Growing Up Again
by Abigail Rose V
Summary: The Rescue Bots are hit by a un-aging ray one monring, and they are transfeered into a time rip to Optimus's base to be raised again, along with Cody who is taking an anti-aging serum to be with them as they grow up. Starscream somehow finds himself wrapped up in all this, and discovers a surprising thing about himself, and finally finds the freedom and affection he craves.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Optimus, we have a problem." The chief looked out at the Autobot leader with concern.

Optimus Prime could hear the unbelievable sound of Autobot _babies_ crying in the background.

"Is that…?" he asked slowly.

The chief nodded once.

"It happened this morning when we came down to the garage." Chief explained. " The Bots came up from the bunker, and got zapped. Now, we have four Bot babies that are too large for us to handle. Lucky we had the other four around to help."

Bumblebee appeared suddenly behind the chief, bouncing two bundles in his arms, a distressed look on his face.

He beeped and whirred anxiously, then held what he was carrying up to the camera.

Under the white swaddling, two familiar faces peeked out: Blades and Heatwave, only, they were smaller.

Much smaller.

And, they were crying their spark out.

"We already called Doc Greene, but, no luck, so I called you." Chief sighed.

Bumblebee withdrew, trying to sooth the two new babies, and Optimus caught a glimpse of Salvage carrying Boulder and Chase, also attempting to quiet them down, Hightide and Kade cowered in a corner, hands clamped over their ears, Cody desperately doing research on his computer along with Graham, Dr. Greene, and Frankie, while Dani and Blur stood by the chief, looking helpless and more then a little confused.

Servo was following Bumblebee as the yellow and black Bot paced from one end of the bunker to the other, whirring and chirping hopefully as the dogbot kept pace with him.

"I'm on my way." Optimus rumbled, transformed into vehicle mode, and was off.

He used the trip there to gather his thoughts and formulate a plan.

There was no technology to re-grow the Bots back into adulthood, and he had not even known there was one to make them babies again.

Of course, there was that ray the Doc had once grown Cody and shrank Kade with, but this was different.

Then, their mental state remained unaltered, while their bodies grew or shrank.

With the Bots, however, they had completely morphed into actual babies.

Optimus Prime knew of only one way to age a baby into an adult, and that was to raise them up until they were grown.

The problem was, the humans needed the rescue Bots _now_ , not many years in the future.

And the Bots would have to re-learn everything they ever knew, including how to work with their human partners.

Optimus allowed himself a small groan of frustration as he pulled up to the firehouse.

The garage door opened a second later, and he pulled in, transforming as the door closed.

"Optimus! Thank goodness you're here!" Cody raced towards him.

" Yeah, thank Primus." Hightide groaned from the corner, Kade echoing his sentiment in his own way.

"Tell me everything you know." Optimus said, and then listened as all the humans and full-grown Bots told him every theory and passing idea that went through their heads concerning the baby Bot problem.

Cody wanted to raise the Bots here, Kade wanted them gone and he didn't care where, Hightide wanted to give them to a fembot to raise, Dani wanted to have Doc Green operate on them, Frankie wanted to try the time machine and going back and trying to remove the ray first, Bumblebee wanted to help raise them, Chief wanted Optimus to take them, Doc Green wanted to try and make some sort of formula to try to re-grow them though he had no idea where to start, Salvage wondered if stasis pods would work, Blur thought they could speed up the Bot's growth somehow, and Graham thought maybe they would grow up in a few days and just to wait and see.

Optimus considered their ideas for a second, before dismissing some them as rubbish.

"The only real answer I can find is to take them to my base and raise them, while freezing the time elsewhere." He told them.

"How would you do that?" Graham wanted to know.

" Time is a very thin curtain, if I ripped it carefully and stepped through, I can stop it, then, re-open it at my base and raise them with no time lost here. You would hardly know they were gone." He explained.

Bumblebee chirped enthusiastically, and Optimus nodded. "Yes, we would all be raising them, and training them." The leader looked at Hightide, who nodded glumly.

"That might not be so bad, if they would stop crying." Salvage said as the two he held crying reached an ear-splitting height.

The massive red and blue autobot reached down, and gently took Chase from the garbagebot's arms, leaving him with Boulder.

Murmuring softly, Optimus rocked the little Bot in his strong arms, a warmth flowing through his chest.

He had not felt it since he raised Bumblebee, and it felt good.

Chase opened his eyes and caught sight of Optimus's stern face, and the leader instantly relaxed it into a smile, causing the little policebot to wave his arms at him, and coo, the crying magically ending.

Optimus loved sparklings; some Bots could not stand them, but he had always loved them.

Chase must have sensed that, as he seemed quite contented now.

Looking over the four baby Bots, Optimus scanned their ages and found the following:

Blades, the youngest, was not even crawling yet, nor could he sit up.

Boulder, the next youngest, could sit, but not crawl.

Heatwave, the next youngest, could barely crawl.

Chase, the oldest, would soon be learning to walk.

All four required bottle-feeding of only pure energon, their systems not devolved enough to handle diluted energon yet.

That would have to wait until they were older, and talking.

Optimus suddenly looked up, alarm spreading over his features.

The Bot's bodies were filled with impure energon, and at this age it could be deadly.

No wonder they were crying so much.

"Blur, get back to the base and prepare the rest of the team there to hold up, and call in any that are out. Hightide, you go with him. Bumblebee, prepare for energon extraction and infusion, and Salvage, hold the sparklings." Optimus rapped out orders and the Bots leapt into action.

Optimus turned to the humans, but before he could speak the chief spoke.

"Is there any way we could go with them? I sure would hate to have to start over from scratch with them and growing used to humans again." Chief Burns looked highly uncomfortable with the idea of starting over again.

Optimus began to say no, then paused.

Something that another human, long ago or at least it seemed, had made so he could stay with Optimus for as long as the Bot lived, surfaced to memory.

The human who made the anti-aging serum had since met a tragic end, but his work still remained, locked in the safest vault Optimus Prime had on his base.

Optimus slowly nodded. " But only one of you." He said firmly. " I have a serum to stop a human from aging, but only for one, and they have to be young."

Chief sighed. " I would be to old, right?"

The massive Autobot leader nodded once.

"So it's up to you kids who should go." Chief Charlie said, looking resignedly at his family.

" Which one of us should go?" Dani asked, looking around at her siblings.

Each one of them wished to go with their Bots, and they all began discussing the matter among themselves.

"While you are deciding, I will be infusing the Bots." Optimus informed them, then strode away.

" I should be the one to go, then I might have a shot at keeping Heatwave under control." Kade was arguing.

" I don't think that's the best reason to go, son." Kade's dad told him gently.

Normally, he wouldn't butt in on his kids' discussions, but this time he felt justified.

This was a serious matter, and he could not let the wrong person go and turn the Bot's sour towards humans.

"Who would you pick, Dad?" Dani asked.

"Personally I would pick Graham or Cody, sorry you two." He apologized to Kade and Dani.

"As would I." Optimus rumbled from the other side of the room as he carried in a sleeping Chase.

Setting him down nearby, he added. " You have to think of all the other Autobots you will be living with for the next several years. You may not find yourselves comfortable living amongst them for so long."

"Oh you're right." Graham considered this, but Cody put in eagerly, " I wouldn't mind! I haven't met an Autobot I don't like yet."

Optimus hid a smile at Cody's enthusiasm. "You may change your mind once there, young man." He warned.

" I still think I would be the best to go; most of the Bots always liked me more anyways." Cody stated.

"He does have a point." Dani mused.

" Yeah, when given a choice on whether to hang out with us or Cody, they almost always pick Cody." Kade complained. " Chase and Boulder were the only two who ever changed their minds."

"And it wasn't that often." Graham pointed out.

"And they almost blindly trusted Cody, while they questioned us on everything." Dani sighed.

"Well, I am the only one teaching them everything they need to know about living here!" Cody defended himself.

" Then it's settled." Chief Burns looked up at Optimus. " You will keep him safe, won't you Optimus?"

Optimus remembered with a pang the last human he had been responsible for.

" I swear on my life." He vowed solemnly.

And he meant it.

This time, nothing was going to happen to the human in his care.


	2. Chapter 2

Flashback to Optimus's Past, Part 1

Randall burst into the base and sped through the halls; dodging Autobots as he ran, pulse pounding as he searched for the massive leader, Optimus Prime, who also happened to be his friend.

His one and only friend to be honest, though he was still working on the others.

None of the rest of the Autobots seemed real thrilled to be housing a young male human in their base, and allowing him to perform research on their abilities and tech, so as to help them better survive, and thrive, on Earth.

One year before, Randall, a sandy-haired, tall, lanky boy of 16, had accidentally discovered the Autobot base when he was escaping from the orphanage he was in.

He was amazed and awed at the large Bots, and managed to convince Optimus Prime to let him stay.

Optimus let him stay on one condition only: that he would teach them all about Earth and its inhabitants.

Within a week, Randall had discovered that teaching the obstinate aliens anything was a nearly insurmountable task; not one of them was mentally suited to the lessons he tried to give.

Soon, he was using his bright mind to learn about _them_ , and no one mentioned him teaching them again.

Slowly, he made friends with the stern, but kind leader of the Autobots, and learned of the war they waged against the evil Decepticons.

Optimus never allowed him into a battle, but he could coax many of the Bots to tell him stories of what happened.

The young yellow Bot called Bumblebee was easiest to beg, and in fact was almost friendly to the boy, but clammed up the instant another Bot was around, and they weren't alone all that often.

Asking the others was a more challenging task.

Randall had a healthy fear of one Autobot in particular, a prickly old warrior known as Ironhide.

The weapons specialist, he made it clear from the beginning that he never wanted to catch Randall anywhere near him, and Randall stayed out of his way as much as he could.

Ratchet gave him a grudging respect, for the boy had eagerly shown his skill of learning nearly everything put to him, and the medic had allowed him to help repair the injured Bots, and the teenager had proven himself quite good at small repairs, prompting Optimus to eventually send him along on patrols in places with little danger of Decepticon surprise attacks, in case of a small wound from natural causes like falling rocks, and in the aftermath of battles, he would catalog the injuries while Ratchet treated them.

Prowl pretended he was not there, and just barely would manage _not_ to squash him underfoot when striding down the halls, though Randall had spied on him reviewing the boy's calculations and nodding approvingly when he thought the human wasn't around.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker would openly make fun of him, and pulled potentially fatal pranks on him, but Randall choose to believe they really meant no harm; they just did not yet understand the size difference between them.

Bluestreak would jabber away at him for as long as Randall could put up with it, but it was not like they ever had any real conversations.

Most of the talk was about how he couldn't stand human beings, and how much he missed his old home, and so on and so on.

Randall tried to avoid him for just that reason, but still wound up standing around trying to think of a good excuse to take off more times then he wished.

Optimus tended to rescue him from being talked to death, much to Randall's relief.

The others, well, Randall just paid them proper respect and stayed out of their way if needed, which was not often.

The other Bots made allowances for his smaller size and weaker muscles, and made sure, even if it was grudenly, not to harm him in anyway.

But they still refused to be friendly towards him in any way, shape, or form.

Even when telling their war stories, it was in an air of scorn, and would often sneer, " Glad you weren't there. You'd be as useless as rust in battle!" and stalk away.

Randall learned to ignore them, and got along well, staying mainly in his or Optimus's quarters.

He would often ride around on the leader's shoulder, or in his cab if training was going on, so as to stay out of the way and keep up with him and the other Bots.

But right now, he had vital info and he needed to get it to Optimus Prime, _now_.

Running nearly face first into Hoist's backside, the towtruck crouching down to retrieve something from the floor, Randall took the opportunity to ask about the Prime's location.

Knowing the Autobots' irritation at his using a more familiar term to mean their revered leader, he chose his words carefully.

" Excuse me please sir, but where might I find the Prime? I have important information for him to consider." Randall held his breath as Hoist turned to glare at him, straightening up as he did so.

"In the rec room." He answered shortly.

Hoist knew it was useless to try to get the small human to give him the info himself.

When the boy had first arrived, many Autobots discovered he could not be intimidated into doing what they said, and forcing him was out of the question.

Randall nodded his thanks and sped off once more.

In the few months, he had been working out a lot, trying to increase his speed and endurance, so as to better keep pace with the aliens he now lived with.

He was thankful for that training now, as he made good time and arrived in the rec room shortly.

Thankfully, Optimus was conversing with Jazz, and Randall panted up to him, throwing a hasty salute when Jazz glared down at him.

"P-Prime, Sir." Randal tried to catch his breath. " Bumblebee, the patrol, your sparkmate, Decepticons, a-attack!" Randall could not get his words straight with the other Bot glaring down at him like he had just declared Megatron was his master.

Optimus went rigid and scooped Randall up in a huge blue servo.

Without a word to Jazz, he strode off to his private quarters, locking the door before setting the human down on the berth and facing him.

"Tell me your message." Optimus commanded.

Randall gazed into the semi's blazing yellow optics, and took a deep breath.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

Optimus looked around himself as Bumblebee, himself, Salvage, the four sparklings, and Cody prepared to leave.

The sparklings were all nestled in his cab, safe in deep recharge after being filled with pure energon so that Cody could easily look after them as they traveled.

Salvage, Bumblebee, and Optimus carried all of Cody's belongings, as Optimus insisted that if Cody was to spend 20 years with them as a 10 year old, he might as well have all the comforts of his home with him too.

So at first the whole team packed up Cody's entire room and placed it inside just Salvage, after, of course, the garbage truck transformed to make room for it all.

Optimus even insisted they keep up on Cody's schooling, so that way he doesn't forget anything in 20 years.

Cody was not too pleased about that, but Optimus was firm.

He was not going to let the youngest Burns fall behind in his learning, and even offered to help him advance in his classes.

Graham got a tad jealous at Cody's opportunity, but his little brother was reluctant to accept.

Secretly, he had hoped for a loooong vacation from school, but obviously it was not to be.

But in the end, he had agreed to the extra help, if only because refusing would be ungrateful to the alien's kind offer.

Doc Greene had provided Cody with thousands of notebooks, equipment, and pocket-sized gadgets in order for Cody to conduct full-scale research for him while he was there, with Optimus Prime's permission of course.

This they had to load into Bumblebee, making him promise over and over to _be careful_ , and not to damage any of the fragile equipment he carried.

In the end, skeptical of the speedy car's ability to go slowly and carefully, they swapped out the gear into Salvage, and stuffed as much as they could into Bumblebee of Cody's belongings, and the rest into Optimus.

Bumblebee was happier to carry Cody's stuff anyway, and he was most interested in his video games and comic books.

Cody figured he would have a friend to play against now, and happily showed his prize possessions off as they were packed.

They had no need to take Cody's bed, because Optimus assured them that he already was in possession of a human bed, tables, bookshelves, books, desks, a computer, bedding, and other human stuff.

There was even clothing, he said, though he admitted it might be a bit too big for Cody.

Kade had asked sharply how he had all of that, but Optimus had merely hung his head and turned away.

Bumblebee had started to respond, but Optimus had suddenly found a use for him, and he had to leave to check on food for Cody, in case they did not have enough freeze-dried food at the base, though Bumblebee beeped softly under his breath, obviously grumbling.

Optimus ignored him.

Cody was trying to say goodbye to everyone all at once, hugging and making promises to friends and family alike.

Graham made him promise to bring him home some samples of new technology, and any new laws about math and science while he was there.

Dani wanted to know if there were any new flying tricks he could pick up from any airborne Bots he met.

Frankie had made him promise to make a video recording everyday for her to watch when he returned, and to bring something back home for her, _and_ to help her catch up to him in school as well.

Kade just sulked, saying that if he weren't coming, why would he want anything from there anyway.

Once again, Cody had to seek the Prime's permission before promising anything, but the great leader seemed almost amused by the humans' requests, and had granted them all their wishes.

The Burns who were not going, well, most of them anyway, were making themselves useful.

Despite his disappointment, Graham had graciously accepted he was not going along and cheerfully helped with the preparations, as did Dani.

Kade, however, was extremely upset he was not coming as well.

"Are you 100% _sure_ there is not enough what's-it-called for me to go along too?" Kade pleaded for the seemingly hundredth time.

"Serum. And yes, I am 100% sure." Optimus patiently told him, keeping in a sigh of irritation.

He was unused to how humans worked, and was not prepared for Kade to not accept what he was told the first time and keep arguing.

However, he noticed that none of the Burns's seemed surprised that the firefighter kept begging, so he kept his temper in check, though he wished he would stop asking.

It made his audios ache just thinking about answering the question once more.

"Stop being jealous, okay? It's not like Cody's winning the Grand Prix without you or anything." Dani gently chided her older brother.

"I'm not jealous." Kade snapped, then looked to the floor. "It's just…" he sighed softly, then glanced back up at his sister. " What if Heatwave doesn't remember me, and all the stuff we've done together when he gets back?" he had a look of despair on his face, and Dani was sharply reminded how much the bad-tempered red Bot meant to her brother.

"It'll be fine." She told him tenderly, bringing him into a quick embrace.

Kade didn't respond, but his eyes searched out Optimus's imposing yellow optics once more and looked into them pleadingly.

Optimus gazed back sternly, before breaking eye contact and turning to the rest of the team once more.

"Are we all ready to go?" he asked.

"Ready!" they all replied, and Optimus transformed and opened his door for Cody to enter.

"As soon as we leave the town, we will need to return to Bot mode and carry the sparklings. It is too dangerous to leave Cody with all four sparklings the whole journey back to the base. They may roll and injure him or themselves. I will move slowly, so as not to jostle them. You will need to keep watch for Decepticons the whole time, as they will see we are in a vulnerable position at once."

"Unless you took me!" Kade, seeing his opportunity, squirmed away from Dani and took several eager steps forward. "With me inside, I can help Cody keep watch over all the babies while you all transform. You'll move faster that way, and if you're avoiding Decepticons, it would be better to move faster." He added deliberately.

Optimus turned to look at him, and this time his look was tinged with sympathy.

"No." He said firmly, then turned away from the frantic firefighter. "Autobots, move out!"

"No." Kade whispered, tears springing into his eyes, and in desperation, he ran full tilt into one of the tunnels, paying no heed to his family's shouts, calling him back to them.

"Optimus!" Chief Burns looked pleadingly at the leader, who had frozen in place when Kade disappeared into the tunnel.

"We must hurry if we intend to leave before your son comes to harm." Optimus stated gravely.

"We will look for him while you move." Chief Charlie stated.

Optimus disagreed. " When I rip the time curtain, he will be frozen in place. When we return, you can send Heatwave to find him. I am sure he won't make it far, as he cannot move faster then us, even at a slowed pace."

Chief Burns looked unconvinced, but nodded anyway.

Starting to go, Optimus hesitated. " Bumblebee," he said and the yellow car transformed quickly back into Bot mode. " I want you to find Kade and return him before we leave the island. Can you do that?"

Bumblebee nodded furiously, and pounded into the tunnel Kade had taken.

"Thank you, Optimus." Chief Burns looked gratefully at his old friend. " I appreciate it."

" It is our duty. So long, Chief, We will see you shortly." Optimus promised, and left with the others.

As the Autobots rolled out, none of them spotted the lone figure hanging from a tree over looking the road and no one saw him gingerly drop down onto the back of Salvage's garage truck, and cling on for dear life.

Kade had noticed Bumblebee was not with them, and he figured the yellow scout must be searching for him.

He just hoped that he was not discovered back here.

All he knew was, wherever his Bot went, he was going too.


	4. Chapter 4

Flashback to Optimus's Past, Part 2

THE REST OF THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO NOVA. YOU'RE THE FUEL TO THIS STORY. THANKS. J

" Decepticons attacked the patrol I was with and captured your sparkmate. Bumblebee is mostly unharmed and is following at a distance. He sent me back to get you." Randall reported quickly.

"The others?" Optimus looked at him questionably.

Randall shook his head, and the semi's gaze shifted to the floor in momentary grief.

Then the leader rose to his full height. " A rescue will be mounted at once." He declared. "Thank you for reporting back to me and not trying to take on a rescue yourself." After looking at the boy shrewdly, making Randall shiver slightly and wonder is somehow the leader knew of his forbidden adventures, Optimus Prime stared to leave, and Randall scurried after him.

"Can't I come too?" he asked anxiously, crossing his fingers behind his back and holding his breath as he trotted along beside the noble Autobot.

"No. Too dangerous." Optimus stated firmly without slowing.

"But I might be able to help!" Randall pleaded, following his massive friend down the hall.

"I said no, and that is final." Prime said sternly, starting to pick up the pace.

"But, but, your sparkmate carries the form of your son." Randall said quietly, and Optimus froze.

Slowly, the alien swiveled his head to stare down at Randall. " And how do you know this?" He rumbled.

Randall gulped. " My inspection of her this morning revealed another spark throbbing inside her, and that is how I know."

Optimus looked lost in thought.

"Sir?" Randall prompted after a second.

Optimus snapped out of it. " I was, unaware that she was carrying our son." He said in a horror stricken voice.

"I believe she was trying to surprise you." Randall said quietly. "You have been so busy and stressed here lately…"

Optimus stepped out again, this time so quickly Randall had to run to catch up.

"If Megatron discovers she's carrying, he will torture her or worse, and kill our son." Optimus growled, and clenched his fists.

"Let me come! If we work together, we may be able to rescue her in time!" Randall pleaded once more.

"NO!" Optimus thundered, making Randall jump. " This is too dangerous for a mere human like you. There is nothing you can do." He added more gently, seeing how he scared the boy.

"But you don't-"

"Randall."

At Optimus's warning tone, the teenager clenched his fists angrily and looked down, tears springing to his eyes.

It was the same story, over and over.

Optimus would never let him help with anything the tiniest bit dangerous, and it was wearing on his nerves.

There was a creaking of metal, and Randall felt a huge finger under his chin tilt his face up for his angry brown eyes to look into sad yellow optics.

"You do understand, don't you?" Optimus spoke quietly, having knelt so he was closer to the younger. " I do not do this to make you feel useless, I just do not want you hurt. The Decepticons are cruel, and would kill you as easy as crushing a fly is for you." Optimus held his gaze a moment longer, then stood up and looked down on him once more.

Randall nodded, unable to speak because of the lump in his throat.

The Prime's little speech only made him feel worse for what he was about to do, and he just hoped the wise mech would understand once he did it.

But at the same time, it only made him more determined to carry on with his plan.

Optimus Prime was the one being that had cared about him since his parents died, and he would do anything to help him.

Even if that meant disobeying him and putting his own life on the line, like he was about to do.

The mighty Bot turned and walked down the hall, disappearing through a doorway to issue orders to the rest of the Autobots.

Randall spun and headed for his room.

Randall sped through the underground tunnels on his stolen motorcycle, wearing a camouflaged suit, clutching a miniaturized laser weapon that he had designed for himself to use based on the Autobots' weapons he had examined, and enough cloaking devices for four Autobots.

He had never seen anything like them before, and he had secretly made a copy of their design so he could have one too.

It had been tricky business, assembling it, but he had finally made one, and just in time too.

He had only target practiced with it a month before, and now he needed to use it.

Just like it had been interesting to steal the motorcycle he was now riding.

Or should he say, easy to steal, but hard to keep hidden from the aliens.

He only rode it, and kept it, in his secret tunnels, but with the Autobots' sensitive hearing, and other sensing capabilities, he never rode till he was out from under the Nevada mountain base, which, since it was _inside_ the mountain, wasn't that hard.

This time was different.

He didn't care if they heard him underfoot; he knew where the Decepticon base was and they didn't.

He had listened to many arguments since he arrived about where the 'con's base was located, and after having been severely scolded for asking about trying to locate it himself, he had started sneaking off when no one was around, and exploring on his own.

It was surprisingly easy to sneak off, since Optimus trusted him enough to not have him watched, at all.

And since he had to head to the nearest town, which was at least thirty miles away, in order to get stuff for him, human stuff like food, clothing, games, ect, ect, (he never let on he was stealing it all) he would often take his sweet time going there and back to explore the area.

Over the year he had been here, he had designed goggles to allow him to tell the difference between a Decepticon jet, car, train, ect ect and a human jet, car, train, ect ect and a camouflaged suit that also hid him from thermal imaging.

He had built them in a hurry, as rumors were flying in the little town closest to the Autobot base and even towns a hundred miles away of strange vehicles moving in the desert and canyons in the area, and increased jet activity.

Once he discovered what was human made, and what was alien, he was able to move more safely, and get an idea in which direction the enemy base was.

Shortly after that, he discovered he needed a faster way to get around, and had stolen the motorcycle.

Using more alien technology, he souped up the motor until he could whiz along at incredible speeds.

He began drilling more and more tunnels in the direction of what he calculated was the Decepticon base, due to the frequency the jets and other 'cons came and went in that specific direction.

He knew it was somewhere in the ocean, as all the Autobots had scouted the land around them extensively and knew it was nowhere on land.

After one more time of trying to help them find their enemy, he never spoke up again, which meant none of them had the slightest idea of the goggles, his suit, or his 'cycle.

He shuddered as he recalled how he had eventually found the base.

Townsfolk from all over the western USA had started making forays out into the desert and canyons, trying to spot the vehicles and find out where they were coming from.

Some of them never came back.

Randall had informed Optimus of these developments, and all Autobots now stayed well hidden, but the rumors kept flying, and Randall overheard Tracks and Prowl talking about the disappearances, which they guessed meant Deception kidnappings.

Optimus sent out more patrols then he used to after that, with added orders of protecting the humans.

None of the Bots, however, were suited to this kind of work, and they failed repeatedly, as their knowledge of humans was minimal, and they had to keep completely hidden from view at all times, fueling the stories and superstitions of the townsfolk.

Randall once more offered his help with the humans, but was refused again.

Optimus was afraid he would be kidnapped, as he told Randall the boy would never know whether he was looking at a 'con or a human vehicle.

Randall almost had told Prime of his goggles, as even the aliens could not tell which was Decepticon and which was human when they were confronted with trying to decide.

But, he was afraid of getting into serious trouble, for having used their own tech without permission for himself, and so he kept silent, sighing to himself whenever he spied on them and saw them arguing on whether that speck up there was a human jet or a Decepticon.

Usually, it was a human jet, but sometimes it _was_ the enemy, and Randall always kept well hidden from them.

He never had to hide from his own kind when they were in jets, but after he found the base, he was terrified of the brutal enemy aliens.

If only the townsfolk had kept in the town, and not wandered so far out into the desert, he may never have found the base, so he was kinda thankful for the ignorant folks who searched, but then neither would he be having the nightmares he did from how he found it, either, raising some interesting questions from Optimus about them when Randall would wake screaming Decepticon names in the night.

He always hoped his excuse of a vivid imagination from the stories the other Bots told him would be enough, and so far it seemed to be working, though it made things more complicated with what Optimus would allow him to do after that.

On the bright side, if he had never found their base, he would never have made the small submarine he built just to get out of the base.

He had stolen some cloaking technology from the Decepticons, added it to both the sub and his suit, and turbo charged the tiny sub, or he never would have made it out of there alive.

He also had stolen some teleporting tech from them, which, considering how far the Decepticon base was from the Autobot base, really came in handy, other then he was only able to move at about 80 miles or less at a stretch, do to his limited knowledge of such things.

But, it got him where he needed to go, a lot whole lot faster then by just 'bike or sub.

Thankfully, he had since then discovered more tunnels leading out into the ocean, and had been drilling them around his teleporting gates all the way into the underwater base, creating new ones in case he was ever caught and had to confuse his enemies in the maze of tunnels and teleport gates.

Other then that, it was absurdly easy to slip in and out of the 'con base, and to spy on them.

They were not prepared for a small human to creep around in their ducts and airways, and it was simple to distract them and start them fighting amongst themselves to allow him an easier getaway.

He had made a detailed map of the interior of the base, and any set routines they seemed to have.

He also drew a rough map of the outside area of the base, but it was risky, so he was unable to get much detail with all the traffic coming in and out of it all the time.

He may have had a cloaking device on his sub, but he still was leery of getting caught, after what brought him there in the first place.

It was all because a little girl had lost her dog one day, and happened to wander in the wrong place, at the wrong time…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Three

"Optimus Prime, sir?" Salvage called out. " I think there may be a hitchhiker on my bumper. Do you mind, checking for me?"

Kade felt his heart begin to pound as he heard the semi's engine's get louder as the leader started to drop back to where the firefighter was clinging to the garbage truck's back end.

Time seemed to slow as Kade frantically tried to come up with a solution to being discovered riding along on Salvage, but came up empty.

Visions of the respected Autobot reprimanding him soundly all the way back to the firehouse, just to face his father and sibling's displeasure, raced through his head, and he shuddered where he clung desperately to the garbagebot's rear end.

The humiliation and failure was already starting to make him feel sick, when something unexpected happened.

A vociferous _boom_ , then a flash of yellow burst across Kade's sight, and the horrible sound of metal impacting metal nearly deafened him as Bumblebee crashed right into Optimus's nose and spun into Salvage's side, then back into Optimus.

Kade suddenly realized the famed scout had been tracking his comm. Link, and he ripped it off and threw it under the semi's wheels as he skidded past, Bumblebee piled up on his windshield.

As he did so, an idea formed in his mind, and he acted upon it as yet another loud boom made the yellow sports car slid rapidly off Optimus's nose and, tires spinning in reverse, slammed into Salvage, _again_ , and sending Optimus into a crazy spin.

Kade wrenched the back end of the garbage truck open and scrambled inside, slamming the back shut once more and crawling through the delicate equipment he himself had helped so meticulously pack.

As he made himself as comfortable as he could, sandwiched between a computer and some weird tech, he tried to hear what was going on outside, but the sound was too muted to hear more then a faint rumbling at best.

All he knew was Salvage was no longer moving, and he hoped that was a good thing, and they had not stopped to search for him.

When Bumblebee first crashed into Optimus, it awoke the sparklings inside him, and they all began crying at once.

Cody himself was thrown to one side, and he was thankful he and the babies were strapped in securely.

When the yellow car spun out of control and slammed into the windshield, Cody saw that Bumblebee was pretty damaged already from whatever made him crash, and when he tumbled off and back into Salvage, Cody was certain he saw someone slip inside the garbagebot's back end even as Optimus spun out of control.

But it left his mind almost instantly as the baby bots' crying turned into screaming, and he knew he had to calm them down.

"Shh, shh, it's okay guys. Just calm down, it's aright." He soothed, but to no avail.

Moments later, he heard his dad's old police car pull up, lights flashing, and he glanced out to see him and Graham step out to access the damage, Dani hovering above in her old 'copter.

Bumblebee was smoking, and there were several dents along his chassis, and he seemed unable to transform.

"What happened?" Chief Burns asked as Cody desperately searched for something to calm the Bot's down with, at the same time singing a lullaby to them.

Before anyone could respond to the chief, a huge Morbot followed by two others stomped into view.

"That." Bumblebee beeped weakly.

"Dr. Morocco. I should have known." Chief said grimly.

"He probably planted the ray so he could steal the Bots." Graham reasoned.

"And we got in his way." Optimus rumbled.

The next few minutes were a blur.

Optimus commanded all the humans to get into their vehicles and transformed back into bot mode, levering his guns at the Morbots.

Cody grabbed blankets, pacifiers, books, a stuffed animal, and some puzzle toys and a ball, while maintaining his balance and singing a shaky lullaby to the distressed sparklings.

All but Chase took the pacifiers; the little police bot spat his out and kept wailing.

The other bots kept crying too, but at least they were not screaming any more.

Cody lost his balance and tumbled to the floor as Optimus fired his guns at the Morbots, rattling his powerful frame just enough to upset the boy inside.

"I am sorry, Cody." Optimus apologized as he turned the Morbots into scrap.

"Wait! Optimus! How do you know Dr. Morocco is not in one of them!" Cody protested frantically as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Do not worry. I am not blasting the one the doctor rides in _too_ much." Optimus assured him.

Then it was over.

The baby bots were still crying, Bumblebee was still smoking, Kade was still missing, but the Morbots were no more.

Only one remained, totally wrecked, but mostly intact around the midsection where a human would ride.

Sure enough, Dr. Morocco himself stepped out precariously, wobbling dangerously as he coughed and wheezed.

Chief Burns stepped out of his car and turned to the Autobot leader. " We got this, sir. You take Bumblebee and my son to your base. Kade will just have to wait." Then he turned and strode off towards Dr. Morocco, who was waiting for him dejectedly.

Cody watched his father for a few seconds longer, a lump forming in his throat as he realized how much he would miss him and the rest of his friends and family.

Suddenly, he wished someone else could have ridden with him; the image of the person slipping into Salvage's rear end having left his mind.

Blinking back tears, Cody turned once more to the wailing sparklings.

Vaguely, he heard Dani using her old copter to lower Bumblebee onto the rear end of Optimus, after he transformed back into a semi once more, and Graham helping to strap the damaged sports car in place.

"There, there, it's okay." He murmured to the little ones, gently inserting the pacifiers once more.

Then he tucked a blanket securely around each of them, but only Blades and Boulder kept it there; the other two ripped theirs off.

Cody set to work with the toys.

Blades he gave the stuffed elephant, Boulder the toy with bright colors, textures, lights, and sounds, Chase the puzzle toy, but Heatwave was a problem.

Everything he gave the little firebot he threw aggressively back out, but after a few times Cody observed that throwing things made the sparkling cry less.

So he collected the ball and began giving it to him over and over, relived when Heatwave finally stopped crying and happily threw the ball repeatedly, though he never threw it with any specific location in mind, he just chucked it.

That's when Cody realized they were moving once more, and that Optimus was looking at him patiently, obviously waiting to say something as soon as he got his attention.

"Sorry sir, I just got a little carried away with the babies." Cody said, giving the ball back to Heatwave again.

"That's good. I am glad you could calm them. But we need to hurry to get back in time. I will be contacting my medic, Ratchet, and asking him to open a Ground Bridge for us. Will you be okay with that?"

"Sure." Cody smiled and Optimus contacted the red and white medic bot.

" I was just getting ready to call you." Ratchet answered briskly.

"Go on." Optimus said when the medic hesitated.

"We had a security breach here, and Starscream managed to figure out what you are planning to do. We believe he plans to take the info to Megatron so he can cut time first."

Cody's eyes bugged when he heard that.

Optimus narrowed his eyes. " Open a Ground Bridge for us, please Ratchet." He said.

Kade moaned and held his stomach.

After a short time riding in the back of the garbagebot while he spun circles and then who knows what else, he was feeling terribly sick.

Not to mention, the fragile equipment seemed to be tougher then he was, and constantly was digging into his back and sides as he tried to get comfortable.

He had been glad when they started moving once more, but after a while he really began to feel sick.

He was just thankful he never got this way while riding in Heatwave.

He would never hear the end of it.

Suddenly, the dizzying feeling stopped, and Kade strained to hear something, anything.

A faint hum outside was all that he could manage, and he slumped tiredly back against some hard object, jabbing into his back and forcing him to sit up once more, banging his head on who knew what else.

His stomach lurched and rolled as Salvage transformed, and began walking.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Kade waited for the movement to stop, and it finally did, right as a horrible ripping sound filled his ears and his vision went black.


	6. Chapter 6

Flashback to Optimus's Past, Part 3

It had been a normal day for Randall.

Needing food, he acquired permission from Prime to head to town for supplies, good-naturedly refusing the usual offer of an escort to accompany him.

Then he set off whistling; once he was out of sight of the base, he took to the earth and dragged up his motorcycle.

Once in a while he would ride above ground, and today was such a day.

Optimus was in a meeting, and there were no patrols scheduled for this area until late afternoon, due to the fact a dawn patrol just went through a few hours ago.

Slipping on his protective goggles, for more then just sand and dirt, and shrugging on his camo suit, he revved the engine and whizzed off, letting out a delighted whoop as the wind streamed through his lengthening hair.

 _I really got to get that cut_. He thought lazily, then slammed his foot on the brakes, nearly wrecking in his haste.

His goggles detected a Decepticon far ahead of him, and there was no way Randall was going to ride a noisy motorcycle right past him.

He would have searched for a nearby tunnel entrance, and continued walking below ground, but something was odd abut this 'con.

He seemed to be hunting something, or someone, and a lump formed in Randall's throat as he heard a faint, high voice calling, " _Bruno! Here doggy doggy! Brunooo! Where are you boy?_ "

Unsure of what to do next, as the childish girl voice called out once more, he crept closer.

Leaving his motorcycle well hidden, he crept closer and closer until he could identify the Decepticon.

He nearly passed out from horror when he recognized, from all the stories, which 'con it was.

The large, blank visored blue 'con stalking the little girl, was none other then the dreaded Soundwave.

Megatron's third-in-command, the Decepticon could move soundlessly, always seemed one step ahead of everyone, and was a telepath.

There seemed to be little the 'con could not do, or did not know, and Randall wondered if the blue TIC already knew he was there.

"BRUNO!" The little girl was closer now, and Soundwave stalked forward once more.

"Human sparkling, detected. Capture, imminent." The blue 'con droned.

Randall shuddered.

No wonder all the Decepticons seemed crazy, if they had to listen to _that_ creepy voice all the time.

Then Soundwave reached inside himself, and pulled out a large, reddish dog.

Loving dogs, Randall immediately identified him as a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

The dog struggled, barking and snarling angrily as the Decepticon calmly held him aloft.

Randall felt rage rise inside him.

The Decepticon was using the little girl's beloved dog as bait to get her to move closer, so he could capture her, then take her to Megatron to probably be tortured and killed, if the Autobots' suspicions were correct, which they probably were.

Suddenly coming to a decision, Randall leaped out from behind his boulder, hurling large stones at the TIC and yelling, " Hey you big bully, back off!"

Soundwave dropped the dog in surprise and half turned to look at him, seeming torn between going after the dog, who was rapidly escaping, or tackling the pesky boy right in front of him.

Evidently deciding Randall was an easier target, Soundwave rushed him.

Moving fast, Randall dodged, but, not wanting to lose the Decepticon yet so he would not go back to preying on the small girl, whom he spotted being dragged away by her galloping dog back towards town much to his relief, he kept the telepath in sight.

Not wanting to endanger his family, as he liked to think of the Autobots, no matter how unfriendly some of them were, he kept his mind clear of them.

 _Capture imminent. Evasion futile_. Soundwave droned in his mind from down below him, climbing after his as he scaled a small mount, and he kicked a bunch of rocks down at the large 'con, who easily avoided them.

Finally, Randall tried to lose the blue telepath.

Surprisingly, he quickly lost sight of him, and when he searched for him, he was nowhere to be found.

Breathing a shaky sigh of belief, Randall turned to head back to the base to ask for that escort after all, when a large blue servo shot out of nowhere and snatched him up tightly.

 _Too_ tightly.

Randall was accustomed to Autobots handling him, and sometimes they would squeeze harder then necessary, but nothing like this.

Randall struggled to free himself, but it was useless, and he gasped plaintively at the blank visor he was dangling in front of. " Please! Too, too tight!"

The steel grip loosened a tiny bit, then Soundwave launched into the air and began speeding off in the direction Randall figured was their base the teen helplessly being borne aloft with him.

Being the genius that he was, Randall figured he could keep the telepath from searching his mind by keeping one strong thought going at all times.

All he could think of at the time was, well, Soundwave, so he devoted his entire being to thinking about the big blue Decepticon.

He thought not about the stories he had heard, as he was smart enough to realize subconsisly the 'con would guess where he heard these, and may tell Megatron to use him as bait for Optimus.

So, instead, he did what he did best: study him.

He estimated his height and weight, how old he may be, the exact shade of blue, the tone of his creepy voice, on and on until Soundwave seemed to have had enough.

"Stop thinking of me." He said in his eerie monotone, which kinda reminded him of Darth Vader from the _Star Wars_ movies he watched once, come to think of it.

Realizing his mind was indeed wandering, he returned to examining the TIC.

"Stop it." Soundwave commanded again, but Randall paid it no mind.

Soundwave suddenly crushed him tightly, and peered down at him, his uncanny blank stare seeming to pierce right through him.

Randall gasped for air, and kicked desperately since his arms were pinned and he could not clutch anything.

"Stop thinking of me." Soundwave intoned, the vibrations from his unnatural voice sending shivers throughout Randall's body.

Randall refused, figuring on Soundwave being under orders not to harm him, too much.

His hunch paid off, because right before he blacked out, Soundwave relaxed his grip and he could breath again.

Gulping in air, he decided to memorize the landscape flying by beneath them, so as to find his way back to – _home_ , he reminded himself quickly, before he thought _base_.

"Escape impossible." Soundwave informed him flatly.

"I don't care." Randall answered him aloud.

"You will tell Megatron everything." Soundwave suddenly decided to tell him matter-of-factly.

"Okay." Randall was not going to allow the tricky telepath to make him change his line of thought.

He still focused on the blue Decepticon.

"Do not resist him." Soundwave warned him.

Randall was startled.

Was, the TIC actually trying to make things easier for him, or was he just being a typical bad guy?

Randall decided the latter was safer, and easier, to assume.

"I won't thanks for the tip." He responded.

Then they were above the ocean, and skimming above the surface.

Randall knew they were heading in a westward direction, and he had already estimated how fast they were flying.

Using that, and his knowledge of the ocean, when they dove he knew approximately how far out they were, and how deep the ocean was at that point.

Lucky for him, at the rate they were going, he would not drown by the time they arrived at the base, if that was indeed where they were going.

Closing his eyes against the salt water, Randall did not open until he felt air on his face once more.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Four

"Here we are." Optimus announced as the little party pulled up to an imposing mountain in the middle of a huge, flat desert.

"Sir!" Blur came rushing out of the entrance, breathless with excitement. " Ironhide, Jazz, and Cliffjumper caught Starscream before he could get to Megatron! Our plan is still safe!"

"Very good." Optimus rumbled. "We will need to keep him secure for the next several years. Once we rip time, anyone inside it can wake anyone else by touching them. Starscream would wake the whole Decepticon army and bring them to us to fight. He must not escape!"

"Yes sir!" a whole host of Autobots were standing at attention just inside the entrance, and they all saluted as Optimus, Salvage, and Bumblebee rolled past.

"Noble!" Cody breathed as he peered out of Optimus's windows.

A hunter green Bot bent down and waved at him, a huge grin on his face.

Cody enthusiastically waved back.

"That's Hound." Optimus chuckled. " He had a close relationship to the last human we brought into the base. I assume he will want that again."

"That's okay with me." Cody told the Prime. " I want to be friends with every Bot in the base!"

"Some will be more difficult to get along with then others, but I have no doubt you will soon win them over." Optimus spoke warmly.

Once they were far enough into the base, Optimus stopped and opened his door to let Cody out.

"Ratchet." He called, and a red and white Bot stepped from the ranks.

"Here." He said simply.

"Ensure that Cody will be able to withstand the rip without any lasting damage." Optimus instructed.

Ratchet nodded, then bent down to examine Cody.

"Noble!" Cody exclaimed. "I've never seen a medic Bot before! You're way cooler then my doctor at home!"

"But of course." Ratchet muttered, but he sounded pleased.

"He's safe." The medic said a second later.

Optimus nodded. "Climb back in, Cody, and I will get our plan rolling. Salvage, Bumblebee, get started on embellishing Cody's new quarters. I will be along shortly."

"Yes sir." "Right on it." The two replied, and as Cody hopped into Prime's cab, they rolled off down another hall.

"You can't do this to me! Let me go, you fragging, pit sucking, _OW_!" Starscream was proving difficult to handle as the three Bots wrestled him into the securest cell they had on the base.

It was also one of the smallest, and the most enclosed, thereby the darkest, and the most remote.

Starscream had not been so difficult until he caught sight of what he was being bundled into.

The compact cell had been built of the strongest materials they had, and coated on the inside with classified metal.

There were no bars, nor windows, and the door was narrow and so low, a tall Bot had to bend almost double to fit in.

Starscream had not even seen it, until Prowl opened the door and they had tried to force him inside.

Ever since, he had been screaming and spitting curses right and left, struggling mightily, and Ironhide had finally had enough, slapping him hard on the edge of one of his wings.

It shut him up, but only for a second as he glared at Ironhide with his maniacal crimson optics.

The he resumed screeching and struggled, and it was with much great effort that they finally forced him past the low, narrow doorway, dropped him with a clang onto the cold metal floor, and slammed the door behind them, locking it securely even as the Air Commander of the Decepticons slammed against it, shaking the frame.

" I'll get out, and kill you all!" Starscream's muffled shrieks of rage still sliced into their audios as they hurriedly left him in there, turning out the lights as they did so, since it was of no use to keep them on since their only prisoner was in a lightless cell.

They assumed the sudden silence was because they had closed the door to the prisoner's bay, way, way down below the rest of the base.

They would have been shocked to see their previously violent prisoner huddled in the center of the cramped cell, hands over his helm, whimpering as he tried in vain to shove sinister, chilling memories from his processor as the dark walls seemed to close in on him.

Then, as a bolt of pure energy shot through him with blinding force, Starscream, SIC to Megatron, mighty Air Commander, brilliant scientist, and fearsome in battle (well, at least most of them), lost it.

He broke into helpless sobbing and bawled his optics out, crying, " No, no, no, I'll behave, I'll behave!" over and over again, fear almost crackling over his body like the ethereal force that was even now seeming to be ripping his body apart, making sparks fly from his colorful, pristine body which curled even tighter now that he was crying.

"That was awesome!" Cody said in delight as he and Optimus Prime returned from having split time and frozen the outside world into a time lapse.

Now, the four Rescue Bot sparklings could grow up safely, without any outside interference.

As they entered into the base once more, Optimus introduced him to all the Bots assembled there.

"And, there's Ironhide, Prowl, and Cliffjumper." Optimus finished as the three came into view.

"Hi Prime!" the smallest of them said cheerfully. " We got Starscream all secured. He won't be getting out of there for a long time."

"Good, Cliffjumper." The semi answered back. " I will check in on him later, to ensure he will be comfortable during his stay."

"Comfortable?!" the large red one called Ironhide spluttered. " But Prime, he's notorious fer escapin'. He'll have to keep in the securest cell we've got!"

"I told him you would prefer a better cell, but he didn't listen." Prowl said wryly.

"I'll see to it later. I'm sure it won't kill him being cooped up for a few hours at least." Optimus replied.

He was pretty sure he knew which cell the SIC was in, and Prowl was right: he would not have the Seeker cooped up in there for the next several years.

Though Ironhide did have a good point, as always.

The flier was awful good at escaping.

"Optimus, when you go see Starscream," Cody began but Optimus cut in firmly.

"No, Cody. You will stay as far away from that one as you can. He is dangerous, and he would relish sinking his claws into you if he could."

"But I wouldn't let him out!" Cody said indignantly.

"He is skilled with words, as well, and he would talk you into doing something you would never normally do. Trust me Cody, you must stay away from him." The Prime was so vehement on this, that all Cody could do was nod.

Prime skewered him in place with his burning yellow gaze for a few seconds longer, but then looked away, seeming satisfied that Cody would do as he said.

Cody swallowed.

There was no way he was going to go near Starscream, but something tugged at him as he thought of all he had heard of the SIC, and he dearly wished he could see him someday.

"Autobots." Prime said, then checked himself. " We need Bee here. Bee, are you finished?" he comm. Linked the yellow scout.

A beeping reply warbled back.

"He's on his way." Optimus said. " We don't need to wait for him to get started. We have four sparklings that we will be raising up to go back to the humans on Griffon Rock. I have decided that each one should have two caretakers, both of whom will assume the role of parents to whichever sparkling they receive. Cody will be their playmate and companion. Skyfire, Wheeljack, come forward."

The two Bots stepped out of the mass of assembled Autobots and up to Prime.

"Cody, give them Boulder." Optimus commanded.

Nodding, Cody maneuvered the sleeping green Bot to the door, and pushed the compartment he was transported in into the waiting hands of the shuttle, who got there first.

"It would be most preferable if each care taking pair would room share, in order to give the sparklings the most secure childhood possible." Optimus said, scanning the faces of the two before him.

"No problem." Wheeljack answered for himself and Skyfire.

Skyfire nodded, seeming entranced with the tiny green sparkling in his hands.

" Blur, show them to their new quarters." Optimus commanded the purple Bot, who proudly led the way down yet another hall.

"I'll be the dad, you be the mama." They heard Wheeljack tell Skyfire, who once again only nodded.

"Prowl, Hound, come forward."

"Oh boy oh boy! I get, I mean, we get, a sparkling!" Hound cheered gleefully.

" _Yay_." Prowl sent Optimus a glare from his visor.

Hound got there first, and knelt down with his servos extended, eagerly waiting on whichever sparkling was to be theirs.

"Cody, Chase goes to them." Optimus informed the waiting boy.

Cody pushed Chase out, and Hound cooed, " Oh look, Prowl, he's a cop car too!"

"I do have optics." Prowl said stiffly.

"Hightide, escort these two to their quarters." Optimus said to the blue and white submarine.

"Right away." Hightide took them down the same hall that Skyfire and Wheeljack went down, Hound still cooing at Chase, who had woken up and was looking solemnly back at the excited jeep.

"Prowl can be your mommy, little one, and-"

" _Mommy?!_ " Prowl sounded outraged, but their argument faded into silence almost at once as they got too far away to hear.

Cody wandered who was going to get Blades and Heatwave.

He would have liked to have stayed with them all, but at least he was here, and would get to play with them still.

Bumblebee coming down the hall interrupted his thoughts.

"S-sir?" the yellow scout beeped hesitantly.

"Yes?" Optimus replied.

Bumblebee squirmed nervously. " We have a, er, stowaway inside Salvage."

Optimus seemed unsurprised. " Kade?"

Bumblebee merely nodded, wilting slightly.

"Kade!?" Cody gasped in shock.

"It is not your fault, Bumblebee." Optimus soothed the forlorn car. "Humans can be tricky to deal with, as we all know. He likely hid inside-"

"During the Morbot attack!" Cody interrupted suddenly. " I forgot to tell you, what with the sparklings, fighting, and all that, but I saw someone slip into Salvage's rear end right before Bumblebee slid into him again."

The boy hung his head as both Bots stared at him wordlessly. " I'm sorry I didn't tell you then." He mumbled.

"I understand, Cody. You had more important work to do then remember a shadow." Optimus told him gently. " It is no one's fault but his own that he is here."

Both Cody and Bumblebee relaxed, then Prime spoke again.

What he said lightened the mood considerably.

"Bumblebee, you and Jazz will be caring for Blades."

Bumblebee buzzed with joy and bolted to the door, ready to take the orange and white helibot into his arms.

"I think that was a great choice." Cody chuckled as he pushed Blades into the eager black servos, relived that he and Bee were to not be in any trouble after all.

"Cool! This'll be awesome." Jazz said, coming up beside Bee.

"Tracks, please take them to their room." Optimus asked the blue saboteur.

Tracks wilted, and led the way into the hall the others went down.

"Guess that means I don't get a sparkling." He was heard muttering as he led the other three away, both of whom miraculously agreed that Bumblebee was mom and Jazz was dad.

"Ironhide, step forward." Optimus called, and the whole room tensed, waiting to see who would be paired with the hot-tempered warrior.

"You and I will be raising Heatwave together." Optimus spoke to his old friend warmly.

Ironhide raised an eyebrow. " I ain't much fer raisin' kids, but arighty."

He knelt and received the small red Bot, who woke up and scowled up at the red vanbot.

"He doesn't seem to like me." Ironhide said, as the firebot began to scream and kick.

"Here. He loves to throw things." Cody hopped into Ironhide's palm and handed the ball to Heatwave.

The little red Bot looked up at Cody and stopped crying, then threw the ball as hard as he could.

"Humph." Was all Ironhide said as Cody hopped off and retrieved the ball, the firebot crying as soon as he left.

Handing the ball to Ironhide, he looked to Optimus, who transformed and looked back at him.

"Ironhide, take Heatwave to our quarters. Cody, Ratchet, come with me. We have a Kade to talk to."

"Prime, I'm not doin' this mommy/daddy thing."

"We'll see, Ironhide. We'll see."


	8. Chapter 8

Flashback to Optimus's Past Part 4

Randall opened his eyes to see they were heading down a dull gray hall.

It was just that; dull, drab, gray…. With next to no other color or design.

It was eerie, the silence, the lack of color, and the emptiness.

Randall had envisioned a base bustling with activity, much like the Autobots'.

Instead, here was vast, empty silence, and Randall wished he knew where the other Decepticons were.

 _Decepticons, in quarters or out patrolling_. Soundwave spoke into his mind. _Like I was when you came to me._

 _Where are we?_ Randall thought back, choosing to ignore the bit about himself.

 _The main hall_. Soundwave replied.

 _Are the other 'Cons on patrol… kidnapping innocent little kids, like you were?_ Randall thought accusingly.

Soundwave's answer was simple. _Yes._

They were then silent, and not many minutes later they approached large closed double doors.

Soundwave opened them and entered, allowing them to swing closed behind him.

"Ahh, Soundwave. You have brought me yet another excellent specimen, while _Starscream_ has failed me yet again." A raspy voice drenched with evil reached Randall's ears, and he turned his eyes to the large gray mech seated on a throne at the other end of the room.

A strikingly colorful Seeker, one that Randall knew from the Autobot's description of him as the 'Con leader's SIC, was standing beside him, tri-colored red white and blue with a dark gray almost black face and a golden yellow cockpit, a bawling baby held upside-down by one foot in a blue servo with slender fingers, crimson eyes flashing with what emotion Randall could not tell at first, until his body was flooded with the mechling's, as Starscream was not very old but rather quite young, feelings.

Randall cringed at the mess of fear, anger, dread, desperation, loneliness, and pain that swamped his mind, then it was gone just as quickly.

Shaking his head to clear it, he threw a glance at Soundwave.

He didn't have to guess how the sensations got into him, but he wondered _why_.

"Human very intelligent." Soundwave reported.

Megatron laughed evilly. " Good, very goood, Soundwave. I have been waiting on such a human to serve my purposes."

"But my idea is better!" Starscream cried out in his distinct harpy voice. " You should have seen the looks on the human's faces when I took their baby! We can negotiate by kidnapping their young and torturing them until they give us all the energy we need!"

"Fool! We _never_ negotiate! We take what we need! We never ask! Or did your old _friend_ corrupt your mind?" With that, the large gray mech spun to the side and ripped the howling baby from Starscream's fingers, literally.

The awful silence that followed was broken by the sound of Randall upchucking his last meal.

Starscream stared down at the lower body of the baby he held, then at the half Megatron held right before his leader slung it into his dark face.

Spluttering, the young mech stumbled backwards, swiping at his blood-spattered face as the massive Decepticon leader spoke. " That is all I care for your, _idea_ , Starscream. If you want to please me, better come up with something else. Something less, passive."

"I _never_ want to please you! I want to _destroy_ you! And don't you ever speak of Skyfire to me again!" Starscream shrieked, clenching his fists tightly.

"Oh, but you will please me, my dear Starscream. And I will remind you of your deceased, traitorous friend whenever I like. Now, go take that refuse to the Autoscum's base like you did with the rest of them. _NOW_!" he roared at the defiant Seeker, who spat at his leader and stalked past Soundwave and Randall, not sparing them a glance.

Even though he didn't look at the boy, Randall still saw the look of raw terror, grief, and hatred on the SIC's face.

 _Starscream speaks his mind, then regrets it_. Soundwave supplied.

 _Uh, thanks._ Randall thought back, trying desperately not to let him mind buzz with the info he had just heard.

The Decepticons had been dumping human remains at the Autobot base? Where…?

"Bring the boy to me." Megatron cackled as Soundwave carried the teen up to the monster sitting on the throne.

"Soo, you are smart, are you? Don't try to deny it, Soundwave is never wrong." Megatron smirked at the boy as he was held in front of the evil overlord.

" My lord, I am indeed considered intellectual by my peers." Randall inclined his head, and he heard a purr of approval from Megatron.

"Then tell me boy, what is the most powerful energy source your world has to offer?" the mech snarled.

Randall's mind whirred.

There was NO WAY he wanted to help this tyrant, but if he wanted to get through this day alive, he needed to work with him.

 _Do not resist Megatron._

Soundwave again.

 _I know, I don't want to help him though!_ Randall thought back frantically.

 _Obey him!_

"Well?" Megatron growled.

Randall locked his eyes with the harsh red optics of the Decepticon in front of him. "My lord, after what I have just seen, as foolish as this decision is, I cannot help you willingly, as much as I may wish I could. However long or short my life is after this, I would be living with the guilt that I have helped destroy my own kind, and I am not a traitor to them."

"You were right, Soundwave." Megatron chuckled darkly, still staring into Randall's firm brown eyes. " He is smart. Foolish, but smart. And I wish I had more loyalty like his in my ranks."

"Human boy foolish." Randall wondered if the fearsome blue 'Con ever felt any emotion, or if his flat voice was just some kind of mask.

"Yes, Soundwave, yes. Bring in the prisoners!" Megatron then leaned closer to Randall. " And leave the little one with me." Soundwave obediently set Randall down on the floor, then strode away, Randall staring up at the terrifying image of Megatron sitting on his throne, head thrown back as he howled with evil laughter.

As soon as Soundwave had closed the heavy doors behind him, Megatron leaned all the way down to where Randall stood at his feet, his dank breath swirling around the teen and ruffling his sandy hair.

"You will not resist me for long, my fine specimen." Megatron gloated. " You and those detestable Autobots have the same weakness: you care about human lives. So, so foolish!"

"Excuse me, your mightiness, but what _is_ an Autobot?" Randall asked respectfully.

He had to hold back a squeak of alarm as a large, no, HUGE servo shot from the throne and knocked him to the floor, pinning him there where he couldn't breath.

"Autobots." Megatron hissed the word. " They are beings built like my glorious Decepticons, but with many glaring faults. Their leader, Optimus Prime, is a thorn in my side that shall be removed some day, someday soon. They are foolish, and weak. And they stand between me and universal domination!" He let Randall up, who gasped for breath as the leader sat back on his throne.

Randall's eyes darted about the room, searching for an escape while Soundwave wasn't there.

Megatron must have been still watching him closely, because an enormous ped stamped down on the lower half of Randall's body after being kicked flat.

"Not thinking of escape, are you?" he chuckled as he ground down on the boy's body, making him see stars as he shrieked with pain.

"Megatron, prisoners delivered." Soundwave must have come in while Randall tried to writhe out from under the heavy ped.

"Good." The crushing weight lifted from him, and Randall lay still, figuring at least on his pelvis being crushed to dust.

"Get up!" Megatron screeched at him, and Randall, groaning deeply, tried to move, but found he could hardly do so, and flopped back down with a weak cry as Megatron loomed over him once more, hissing in his face.

"Get _up_ , I said!" with that, Megatron snatched him up and shook him violently from side to side, the feeling in his lower regions telling him that his hips were indeed crushed, and pelvis not much better.

Randall screamed and thrashed as he felt and heard a rib or two break as the mighty leader squeezed him forcefully.

Then Megatron dropped him, and he blacked out as he hit the hard floor.

When Randall blearily came too, it was to a world of pain and numbness in his entire body.

He tried to focus his eyes on the dark face bending over him, muttering something as he worked.

"Stupid, stupid Megatron. If he used _my_ plan we would already have the energy we need, and I wouldn't be fixing this human."

Randall's eyes and mind cleared as the whiny tone penetrated his brain.

"Star-Starscream?" he croaked out, and the beautiful Seeker slapped him.

"Shut up, vile fleshly creature." He snapped. " My work is tedious enough without having to listen to human drabble too."

Randall closed his eyes again, listening to the derisive mutterings of the young mech as he worked on him.

" Mourned a million years for him, only to be betrayed!"

"If only he had waited… I would have let it slide if not for Megatron!"

"I _promised_ him my place!"

"Maybe he was right… maybe I should have joined him."

"Now he's gone…" some sniffles and a choked sob followed this statement.

"Don't even wanna… but _he_ will make me." A whimper was lurking below the angry scorn, Randall was sure.

Suddenly, he was whisked and plopped in something.

Opening his eyes once more, he saw a wheelchair type invention that was significantly larger then normal ones.

Starscream strapped him in place, locking various ties here and there, until there was no way Randall was ever wriggling out of it.

"There." The Seeker hissed, and stepped back to admire his handiwork. " Maybe I will be praised for this." He snorted, but Randall caught the longing look in his flashing red optics. "Maybe I should not present you to Megatron until he thanks me." Starscream wondered out loud.

"Or maybe I should take him now." Megatron himself stepped into the room, and Starscream jumped back in fright, though he quickly recovered and snatched the chair away from his leader.

"No. I want thanked for once for all my hard work and sacrifice I do for you." The smaller mech spat.

Megatron sneered at his lieutenant. "I'll thank you… the way I want." With that, he lunged at the jet, whose optics had gotten wide with panic as he tried to turn and run away.

Unfortunately for him, he was cornered, and all he could do was sink to his knees, whimpering loudly as he cringed at Megatron's feet.

"No, no, you d-don't have to thank me after all." The mechling pleaded, his voice watery. " It was a p-pleasure doing as you-you commanded me."

Randall stared in horror at the larger mech standing menacingly over the smaller, trembling one.

Thinking quickly, not wanting to see Starscream beaten, not matter how much he may have deserved it, he pressed a button on the arm of the large chair.

A whirring sound was heard, and the whole chair hummed as it began rolling towards the door, which was where it was pointed.

 _Guess I found the,_ _ **On**_ _, button._ Randall though grimly as he pressed another button, and found the longer he pressed it, the faster he went.

He shot through the door and into a hall beyond before either mech recovered enough to respond.

"After him!" Megatron screamed, and he heard a clash of metal as the two ran into each other.

"Stupid idiot!" he heard Megatron roar, and then a sharp scream of pain.

Looking behind him, he saw Starscream flung out the doorway, one of his wings bent almost double backwards.

Starscream landed badly and crawled away from the door, crying out as Megatron rushed into the hall and kicked him hard in the side before he could pick himself up to run.

"Get him!" the gray mech bellowed, not moving a muscle himself, but rather picking the younger mech up by the other wing, and throwing him after the speeding chair.

Tears streaming down his dark face, Starscream pelted after him, his flashing crimson eyes wild with pain and fear.

In a matter of seconds, he had caught up to the chair and grabbed both handles, but instead of returning to his master, he ran on.

"Bring him to me, you imbecile!" Megatron screamed behind him.

"You have to catch me first!" Starscream yelled back.

Then he bent his head over the back of the char, and snarled into Randall's ear. " And he won't, until I have my revenge on _you_. My wings are hurting and I'm going to be punished because of _you_."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Five

 **AN: RANDALL IS NOT GOING TO DIE FOR QUITE A WHILE YET. I LEAVE A CLUE TO HOW HE DIES IN THIS CHAPTER. THANK YOU ALL WHO COMMENT, YOU TRULY MAKE MY DAY. IF YOU WISH TO HAVE ANY PAIRINGS, OR ANY OTHER REQUESTS, PLEASE TELL ME. SOME MECHS ARE GOING TO WIND UP PAIRED, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR OPINONS AS WELL. THANKS AGAIN!**

Kade moaned deeply and struggled to open his eyes, panicking when he found himself strapped down to some kind of hard metal table.

"Take it easy, small feller." A strange voice told him firmly, but not unkindly.

Panting, the firefighter focused on the owner of that voice, an enormous red and white bot who looked down sternly at him.

"I-I, I made it!" Kade croaked in relief.

The strange bot quirked an optical ridge. "Ya think so, huh?" he asked sarcastically as he fiddled with a device hooked up to Kade's head. " You're pretty lucky. You could have died, being so close to the time tear and all. Good thing for you the human quarters are pretty far into the base, something ole Rand liked to complain about. That, and you were inside a garbagebot surrounded by loads of high tech gadgets."

"Where is Cody?" Kade asked, his voice cracking.

"Around here somewhere, likely organizing his room with Smokescreen. Them two really hit it off. Smoky's been filling Code's head with stories of Randy, how he saved his life and all. Anyway, you need hydrated." The red and white medic bot vanished for a few moments, then reappeared, a tube in his servos.

"Wha?" Kade tried to ask, but the tube was jammed into his throat.

Next thing he knew, a gush of fluid flooded his throat, and he swallowed, choked, and coughed until the medic removed it with a grin.

"Guess that drenched ya enough. I'm Ratchet, by the way." The medic strode off.

Kade scowled at the ceiling. "I'm Kade."

"I know, I know. We _all_ know." Ratchet's voice came from somewhere in the room. "You weren't supposed to be here."

"When can I get up?" Kade demanded.

"When I decide, and not a moment sooner." Ratchet told him sharply. "Prime wants to speak with you first."

Kade gulped, his heart leaping into his throat, and his stomach spawning butterflies.

Ratchet grinned again. " Don't be nervous, he's only pretty ticked off about it." Then he strode off and hollered out the door, " PRIME! He's awake now!"

Faintly, Kade heard a familiar deep voice reply, " I'll be there in an astrosecond."

Ratchet came back to him with a smirk. " I'll just leave you two to talk private like. Don't want to get in the way of personal business." Then the medic left.

Kade felt like crying.

It was obvious he was in trouble for coming along, and now Prime was going to tear into him for it.

The mighty leader had never scolded him before now, at least not much.

It made him sick to think about what might be coming.

Clearly, he hadn't thought this through when he had made the snap decision to come along…

Hardly had Ratchet left when two other bots entered the room, one red and one yellow.

"Sooo, you're the trouble maker that's got Prowl and Prime in such an uproar." The red one said, walking around to one side of the bed while the yellow one stood on the other.

"He doesn't look like much, does he?" the yellow one remarked to the red one.

"I dunno…" the red one brushed the hair off Kade's forehead.

"Hey, hey, watch the hairdo." Kade snapped.

"Ohhh, he's got an attitude." The two bots said in unison.

"Leave me alone!" Kade yelled at them angrily.

The red one looked at the yellow. " Should we?"

"Nah!" they both agreed, once more in unison.

"Prime's gonna really tear you up." The yellow one said mockingly. " He's soooo mad, and so is Prowl. I won't be surprised if he turns you out to freeze in time again."

Kade's face paled.

The red one took up the tirade. "Yeah, if Prowl doesn't get to you first. He's even worse then Prime when it comes to punishments."

"Punishments?" Kade gulped.

"Well, yeah!" the yellow said.

"You don't expect _not_ to be punished for disobeying the Prime, do you?" red said.

"Sunstreaker! Sideswipe!" Optimus Prime himself towered in the doorway, a bot Kade supposed to be Prowl a few paces behind him.

Both bots froze, and, with twin guilty expressions, slowly turned and faced their leader, not meeting his gaze.

"Do you two have anything to say?" Prime demanded sternly.

"We're sorry." They mumbled.

"We didn't mean anything, we were only having some fun." The red one, Kade guessed Sideswipe since it would make sense the yellow would be Sunstreaker, said gloomily.

"Oh really." The supposed Prowl put his servos on his hips. " Well, I heard you say Prowl was worse then Prime when it comes to punishments, and that disobeying Prime meant being punished. Somewhere, I seem to recall Prime saying no one is to bother Kade while he is in this Med Bay but himself and Ratchet."

"It appears you have volunteered yourselves for Prowl's choice of punishment for you." Prime told the two bots, motioning to the now-known-for-certain Prowl.

Heads hanging, both trudged out of the door and slowly followed the Autobot SIC down the hall.

Optimus himself came in then, kneeling next to Kade's bed so he was closer to the petrified firefighter.

"The twins really have good sparks, they just are a little, how should I put it, hard to handle at times." The semi told him gently. " They did not bother you too much, I hope?"

Dry mouthed, Kade managed to shake his head no.

Optimus smoothed the cover over Kade's sweaty body, then gently laid a huge blue servo on him.

"I am impressed with your dedication to your bot, Kade." Optimus began softly. " But you should have obeyed me, and your father, and stayed behind. You have put Cody in great danger, and you also. I am greatly disappointed in you." He ended sternly, holding Kade's terrified gaze.

Kade felt tears prick his eyes.

Prime continued, just as sternly. " We only have enough serum for Cody. If we gave it to you also, you both would die. We do not have enough food or water for either of you. We have room enough for one human alone. The bots are not prepared to deal with you for the next several years, and we have a highly dangerous prisoner on base that, if he escapes, would target both of you, and it will be much harder to protect both of you then just Cody."

Kade felt sick.

"You have jeopardized our whole mission." Optimus ended severely.

They were both silent for a moment, Kade sniffling slightly, before Optimus Prime sighed heavily and removed his servo. " I don't know what to do." He murmured softly.

Kade suddenly had a brilliant idea. "You could go and get Graham?" he suggested nervously. " I bet he could make more serum. And you could get more food and water at the same time, enough for all three of us?"

Optimus gazed down at him thoughtfully. " You know, that might just work." He slowly said after a long moment.

"Really?" Kade smiled gleefully.

"Really." Optimus smiled down at the sturdy human beside him.

Then the mighty leader rose to go, but Kade stopped him.

"Hey, uh, O.P? Who are these guys, Rand and Randy? Ratchet was talking about them… are they more twins?"

Optimus chuckled, though his look was pained. " That's Randall. He had several nicknames."

Prime seemed lost in thought.

"Well?" Kade prompted. " Who was he?"

The semi looked down at him. " My best friend. He lived a long time ago. He would still be alive if I had not failed to protect him. Starscream killed him while we were having a falling out after fighting about whether to battle in a certain location or not. I was too proud to listen to him, and took us into a trap, leaving him unprotected and on his own." Anger coursed through the Prime's wiring, and he clenched his fists in helpless fury. "What I wouldn't give to have him back! We were as bonded as tight as any rescue team could possibly be. It is because of him I work so hard to ensure the Rescue Bots get along so well with you humans. It is what his last request was, to ensure we always work together with humans from now on!"

Kade was speechless, and a little frightened by the normally calm leader's sudden show of emotion.

Prime's whole frame was trembling violently, and if looks were laser beams, the Med Bay would have several holes bored though it by now.

"Okay, okay, calm down, deep breathes." Kade tried to sooth the enormous Autobot, and Optimus glanced down at him, startled, as though he had forgotten he was there.

Slowly, the blue fists unclenched, and the mighty frame stopped trembling.

The cold fire went out of Optimus's eyes, and he swept a servo over his face.

"I'm sorry." Prime murmured sadly. " I should not have lost control of my feelings in front of you."

"Look, its okay." Kade told him earnestly. "You need to let go sometime and work through it. Randall would have wanted that." The firefighter did not know what prompted him to say that last part, but it felt right, and he breathed a sigh of relief as Optimus smiled down at him.

"You're right. He would." The semi turned to leave once more.

"Um, could you ask Ratchet to let me out of here? I want to speak to Cody." Kade asked.

Optimus Prime looked back from the doorway. " I shall indeed." Then he was gone.

Kade lay back, thinking over what the leader had said.

Optimus Prime had a bonded partner, huh?

He resolved to find out more about this mysterious guy, and the impact he had on Optimus as a whole.

Cody and his newest friend Smokescreen, Optimus's formerly youngest son, were observing the sparklings in their large playpen in the nursery.

"Whoooo! Whoo!" Cody imitated the sound of a fire engine, trying to get Heatwave's attention off of trying to crawl after Chase, who was exploring the playpen and even trying shakily to stand every so often.

Heatwave was trying to crawl after him, but kept falling flat and screaming in fury every single time he slid to his face.

He looked at Cody, then snarled and hit the truck right out of the boy's hand before resuming his efforts.

Cody bit back a gasp of pain and rubbed at his wrist.

"He sure is strong for a sparkling, or is that normal?" Cody asked Jazz, who was moping in a corner of the room, stuck with babysitting duty while the other 'parents' went on patrol, organized rooms, or headed to a conference they would all get briefed in turn, on how to be parents.

Unless, they'd already _had_ sparklings before, then they were the teachers instead of the students.

Jazz had wanted to be on patrol, to get used to the idea of having a sparkling, but nooo, he was stuck sitting listening to babies howl and cry while his sparkling-rearing partner, Bumblebee, got to go on patrol.

Cody and Smokescreen offered to help him out, and he gladly accepted.

"I dunno!" the Porsche threw his servos up in exasperation. "I know _nothing_ about kids! And my turn at the new parent conference is a long time in coming." The multi-colored TIC drooped once more, and kicked despondently at a stuffed toy nearby his seat.

Boulder sat still and watched as Smokescreen danced a tree and a bear all around him, until a particularly shrill screech from the tiny fire engine made the green sparkling jump, and tears form in his optics as Heatwave began crying in earnest now, not calming for anything.

"I'm sure glad I got the sweet one." Jazz muttered, placing his black servos over his audios.

"Blades sure is sweet, usually!" Cody hollered back, as Chase crawled over to the red sparkling and got bit, causing the little police car to cry, scaring Blades worse, making him cry, and then Boulder joined in.

"Primus! What's going on?!" Ironhide and Ratchet stuck their heads in, and Jazz looked at them dolefully.

Marching in, Ratchet picked up Boulder and Ironhide Heatwave.

"Jazz, git yer kid!" Ironhide snapped at the motionless TIC, who leaped up and rushed over, scooping Blades's awkwardly into his arms, trying to shush him.

Smokescreen bit his lip and gently lifted Chase, who stopped crying and patted Smokescreen's face lightly, then relaxed.

The other three looked at him a bit jealous.

"Try playing music." Cody told a frazzled Jazz. " He always loved it."

Jazz turned on his radio.

Heavy rock blasted loudly into the air, and everyone cringed as the crying got louder, setting Chase off again.

"Sorry, sorry." Jazz muttered, then turned it to a softer tune and a different beat.

"Better." Ratchet muttered as all four began to calm down.

"What started this whole ruckus?" Ironhide demanded.

Cody and Smokescreen exchanged looks.

"Well," Cody began, but was interrupted by Prime popping in.

"Cody, your brother is awake. You may see him once Ratchet and I ensure he is fit and well." Optimus said.

"You?" Ratchet fumed. " The only thing _you'll_ be doing is taking this sparkling bulldozer and keeping him happy. I'm the medic around here, not you."

Optimus quirked an optic ridge at Ratchet's tone, but said nothing as the grumpy medic placed Boulder in his arms and hurried out.

"Glad to see you're helping, son." Prime praised Smokescreen, who glowed happily.

Just then, a downcast Sideswipe and Sunstreaker trouped in, followed by a smirking Prowl.

"Jazz, time for your dad conference, and Prime, I'm sure you have better to do then baby sit, as important as that is." The police car winked at his leader, who smiled and handed Boulder to Sideswipe.

Jazz reluctantly gave Blades to Sunstreaker, warning him to, "be careful or I'll have your head!"

Sunstreaker nodded, sniffling slightly, and shifting on his feet.

Sideswipe gently rubbed at his rear, effectively confirming what their punishment had been.

Jazz beat it out of there with a whoop, and Optimus followed more slowly, shaking his head and smiling.

"Um." Smokescreen looked down at Chase. "I dunno about you, Code, but I think we can go now." He looked at Cody, who glanced at Ironhide, who was laid out on the floor gently wrestling Heatwave with a servo, chuckling as the sparkling tried to hold the van's wriggling fingers down.

"Go on, you two. Us three can handle them." The old warrior waved them away.

Grinning, Smokescreen set Chase down, who began crawling towards a jumbled pile of toy cars.

"I bet he's gonna set them all in straight lines." Cody giggled as he watched.

Smokescreen was already headed out the door. " Come on, Code, I'll give ya a tour of the base, okay?"

"Great!" Cody jogged to catch up with his large friend.

"So this hall is part of a network of interconnected halls through the whole base. It's great for having races on. Bumblebee holds the record for the fastest in vehicle mode, with Sunstreaker, Prowl, and Sideswipe coming in close behind."

"Wow, it would be fun to ride in one of you guys in a race in here sometime!" Cody exclaimed.

"I'm sure we can arrange it." Smokescreen winked. " Once, we had a foot race, and got my dad involved."

It took Cody a moment to figure out who that was, as he was still not used to hearing his esteemed friend called, 'Dad'.

"He won, of course, but we never had a foot race again because we all knew no one would ever beat him in a foot race. So we just stick to cars, because one day, you never know, _someone_ might beat Bumblebee." Smokescreen laughed. " Plus, its faster and a whole lot more fun that way."

"I bet you wanna beat Bee in a race, huh?" Cody poked his friend in the side, and they both laughed.

"Yeah," Smokescreen admitted when the laughed had died down. " I'm training for it with Sides and Sunny."

"I want to be there when you beat him." Cody said earnestly.

"You'll ride with me through the finish line." Smokescreen promised.

Both were quiet for a few steps.

"So, what's it like, having Optimus as your dad?" Cody asked, and Smokescreen looked startled.

"Oh it's great." He said after a second. " Though it throws some of the others off still, like you just did calling him by his first name. No one really does that around here. I mean, the new guys do, and sometimes Bee, but not really. Force of habit I guess." He shrugged. " Dad's really great with not treating me any different just because I'm his son. It makes the others happy, but it's hard sometimes too, when I feel like my dad forgets I'm his son, though I can still talk to him through our spark bond, sometimes he closes it and he won't tell me why." Smokescreen drooped a bit. "And, it's really hard to find time to talk to him too. You know, father-son stuff. He's just so busy all the time! And when he goes off to Griffin Rock to visit you guys…" Smokescreen trailed off, and stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry." Cody says, feeling saddened.

"No, its okay." Smokescreen waved his apology off with a small smile. " I used to get jealous, but I know he is just making sure nothing happens to you all over there. He considers asking you to be his human bond-partner, you know." He said, glancing away.

Cody gasped. " M-me? Why?"

"You look just like a younger Randall, from what I've been told, and you act and think like him too, at least a little." Smokescreen told him. "But Dad told me Heatwave is pretty bonded to you already, and he would never separate two bond-partners, even though Heatwave is bonded with Kade already."

"Yeah, he _is_ pretty possessive of me." Cody sighed. "That's why it surprised me that he bit me like that. I know he doesn't know me right now, but still…"

Smokescreen looked at him with compassion in his optics. " Don't worry about it. Once he's older, he'll go back to normal. My spark tells me this is so." He said firmly, seeing Cody start to object.

Cody closed his mouth and smiled gratefully at his friend, then looked around them, puzzled, noticing they were in the dark.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around as Smokescreen flipped on a light.

"The most dangerous prisoners go here, but it's empty right now, so it's okay to explore." Smokescreen told him. "Figured we'd start from the bottom up."

"That sounds good." Cody said, not realizing that Smokescreen wasn't aware of Starscream's presence in the base.

Suddenly, both of them heard anguished cries coming from the far end of the corridor they were in, and the sound of metal slamming into metal, and broken sobbing.

Exchanging horrified looks, the two youngsters charged down the corridor to a well-hidden door, small, and securely locked.

"Someone's in there." whispered Smokescreen with wide optics.

Cody knelt and pressed his ear to the door, listening.

A piercing screech ripped through the air, and Cody jerked away from the door, looking stricken.

"We, we gotta get whoever that is outta here." Cody said urgently. " Optimus would never let someone be in that much pain, I know it."

Smokescreen nodded his agreement, and knelt down, setting to work on the lock.

Starscream struggled to keep himself from falling into horrible flashbacks as he rammed his thinly plated body into the door and walls over and over again, until he could do it no longer, his shiny amour dented, his impeccable paint scratched, and his myriad sensitive pain sensors screaming in agony.

Groaning, he leaned against the wall and tried to pierce through the suffocating blackness to no avail.

The cell was a torture; completely dark (Starscream needed his light), small enough he could only sit or stand while still being able to reach out and touch the ceiling or walls (he needed his space), and the air was stale and stuffy (the Seeker just _had_ to feel fresh air on his faceplates, or he would go crazy after a while).

Shuddering, Starscream sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees not bothering to hold back the tears as he panted desperately; feeling like the claustrophobic cell was slowly crushing him.

No one could see him in here after all.

He remembered Ironhide telling him he would be here for many, many years, and he began to sob, his wings trembling violently.

Suddenly, the urge to purge was too great for him, with being cooped up and in total darkness, and he emptied himself all over the tiny amount of floor space he had.

As he felt the warm liquid swirl around him, he slipped into one of his earliest memories with a groan of despair…

 _Flashback_

"Sooo, how are my little Seekers today?" a huge gray mountain of a mech stood framed in the doorway of the house, and two of the three sparklings raced over to him, past their stolid blue babysitter, and into his huge dark servos as he scooped them up close to his face.

One stayed back, cowering in a corner, afraid to even move.

"Why, Thundercracker and Skywarp, where's Starscream? Surely he wants to greet his master as well?" the gray mech asked mockingly, staring over to where the tiny tri-colored sparkling trembled.

"Oh, he was bad again, so he's scared of a punishment." Thundercracker told his master brightly.

"Was he? And did Soundwave punish him?"

"Yes he did, and he cried for hours." The small purple seeker called Skywarp informed him.

"What a weakling." The gray mech sneered, setting the two older sparklings down and slowly advancing on the younger one.

"Weakling! Weakling!" the two other seekers crowed in unison, dancing around on the floor behind their master's heavy peds.

Towering over the terrified sparkling, the gray monster smirked down at his little prize.

"What did you do, Starscream?" he asked scornfully.

"He bit me." The silent blue mech suddenly spoke up.

The larger gray mech slowly turned to glare at his comrade. "I did not ask you, Soundwave." He snarled. "Keep out of my conversation with my sparkling."

Soundwave remained silent, his expression giving away nothing behind his visor and mouthplate.

Starscream looked up in terror at the menace that had kidnapped him right out of his mother's arms, killing both her and his father before his young optics.

He opened his mouth, trying vainly to find his voice, but nothing came out.

"Speak, Starscream, SPEAK!" the huge mech roared, and the tiny sparkling burst into tears.

An enormous black servo reached down and plucked him from the floor by his delicate little wings, causing the tender sparkling to scream out in pain.

The massive mech carried the bawling sparkling to the center of the large room, dropping him onto the floor and reaching to pull something from the wall.

Soundwave stood up quickly, seeing what his master had in mind for the pitiful sparkling.

He took the other two and exited the room, not wishing the little ones to observe what was about to happen to their youngest brother.

The cruel gray mech held a long whip above the petrified seekerlet.

"Will you talk now, Starscream? Or will you scream?" he chuckled evilly, then drew back his arm to strike the first blow.

It fell, and the tri-colored seeker writhed and screamed in pain as lash after lash scored his tiny body.

In the next room, and looking for a room further from the scene in the main room, Soundwave held the other two close as he walked, wishing he could block out the sounds of their wing-brother screaming and the crack of the whip before it whistled through the air towards the tiny body below.

Soundwave held a special fondness for the smallest seeker, Starscream, but there was nothing he could do to ease the sparkling's suffering.

He was afraid that if he showed even a little affection, it would make the abuse that much worse.

So he remained emotionless and just cared for the seeker's basic needs, punishing him when needed and ignoring him all other times.

But even still, his spark cried out in pain every time the tiny sparkling was struck, starved, or otherwise hurt in any way.

The other two sparklings began crying, and Soundwave went into yet another room, even further away, and shut the door, effectively blocking the sound at last.

He knew that for all their harsh words and bulling behavior towards their youngest brother, they still cared for him.

Their master encouraged them to be brutal and merciless, so it was no surprise they preyed on their weaker wing-brother like they did, though they did play with him nicely at times also.

Soundwave did not encourage their kindness, nor their cruelty, but nether did he discourage it.

He simply remained detached, and hoped for the best.

He knew what his master wanted from the three: for them to grow up to become the most elite Trine in the whole Seeker race.

So he was raising the most promising sparklings together, but what worried Soundwave was his treatment of them, and especially Starscream.

His master was cruel, and had raped and beaten his last assistant to death before buying Soundwave.

The blue telepath shuddered as he recalled his master's name for the smallest, and youngest, sparkling: His _Prize_.

Whatever the brutal mech meant by that, he knew it would not be good.

He just hoped he could do something about it soon.

For now, he waited on his master to go to re-fuel, so he could tend to the injuries of his favorite seekerlet.

His head drooped as he thought of what his noble older brother would have to say about the situation he currently found himself in…

Laughing in fiendish delight, the monsterish mech did not stop whipping the seekerlet until the little one had lost so much energon he could hardly even move.

Then he seized the traumatized-into-silence-Starscream by the head, and slammed him into a tiny black box barely bigger then the seekerlet's own body.

Then he closed the lid and locked it with an ominous _click._

"We'll see if you learn to talk now, Starscream." He sneered, and strode off for some energon for himself.

Hardly conscience, the beaten sparkling nevertheless knows where he is, and he purges in despair and agony.

Thankfully, he is starved so often, there is little to wash up from his system, but the little there is flows from his bleeding mouth and down to drip onto the bottom of the sealed, airless box.

Overwhelmed in anguish, Starscream mercifully passes out.

He is unaware of Soundwave's own anguish as he kneels next to the box and lets his servos rest on it, forbidden to release the sparkling until the next day.

 _End Of Flashback_

Starscream drags himself back into the present, telling himself that he was okay now, he was not in that box, though he could not get himself to stop shaking, or crying in fear.

Suddenly, his spark leaped.

He heard someone tinkering with the lock on his door, which he realized he was leaned up on, but before he could pick himself up and wipe his tears away, the door fell open and he lay sprawled in the hall outside, blinking in the bright light as he stared up at two faces, one a young bot, and one, a young human.

A very familiar, young human.

Cody and Smokescreen stared down at the mech that tumbled out at their feet, one of his blue servos actually caressing Cody's thigh as he lay sprawled on his back, red, blue, and white body amour dented and scratched, red and white wings trembling.

Tears were pouring down his dark face, and a look of shock mingled with misery was woven all through his expression.

Warm fluids poured out from the dark hole the seeker had been cooped up in, the same fluids staining the seeker's mouth and parts of his amour, and it was a few seconds before Smokescreen found his voice.

"It's Starscream!" he shrieked in terror as the crimson eyes focused on Cody, and _glowed_.


	10. Chapter 10

Flashback to Optimus's Past Part 5

Randall wracked his brain for ideas on escape as the seemingly demented SIC tore through the halls, pushing the teen's wheelchair in front of him.

He could come up with nothing however, and was about to give up in defeat when two other seekers stepped into view from around the next corner.

Starscream came to an abrupt halt, panting and glaring first at the blue seeker, then the purple one.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, let me through." He growled as the two aimed their weapons at him.

"Nope." The blue said, popping the P.

"I am your superior! I command you!" Starscream shrieked angrily.

" _Megatron_ commanded us to stop you." The seeker drawled. " Are you suggesting we disobey our leader, Starscream?"

Instead of responding, the tri-colored seeker spun around to try and run the other way, seeming confident the other two would not fire on him.

Soundwave blocked the way back.

Starscream looked from the two seekers to the telepath, trying to make a decision.

"Come to Megatron, Starscream." Soundwave droned, holding out his hand. "You must be punished."

"No!" Starscream howled.

The other two seekers began advancing slowly, keeping their weapons trained on the SIC.

He turned to them desperately. " Come now, my trine, you wouldn't let me be beaten by our glorious leader, would you?" he pleaded sweetly.

"If it meant saving ourselves from a beating, then yes." The blue one growled.

"If I escape, I will take you with me! Then all three of us can defeat Megatron together, and we can rule together, as a true trine!" Starscream tried to reason with them once more.

"That would be fun!" the purple seeker lowed his weapon.

"No, Skywarp! He doesn't mean it! Starscream doesn't care about us, trine or no trine!" the blue one, who must be Thundercracker, said bitterly, pulling the other seeker's gun back up.

"Oh but I do care!" Starscream cried hopefully. "I do, or I would shoot you both for standing in my way!"

"You only don't shoot because of the bond that ties us together, the one we formed before you changed, Starscream." Thundercracker sneered.

All niceness left the youngest seeker's voice as he replied. " Fine. Then I'll fight both of you since I know you won't shoot me either!"

"Go ahead, _baby brother_!" Thundercracker tossed aside his weapons, as did Skywarp and Starscream.

The three rushed each other, wrestling and throwing skilled punches.

Soundwave silently watched, waiting.

Even though Soundwave was his enemy, Randall felt he could safely ask the TIC any question he wanted and get an honest answer from him.

 _What is trine, and what bond are they talking about?_ Randall sent his thoughts to the blue mech.

 _Trine is a group of three bonded seekers. The bond binds them together, and if one falls, the rest are affected, but the remaining two will fight more fiercely to make up for their fallen wing-brother._

 _Is that what Thundercracker meant by baby brother?_ Randall wondered.

 _No._ Soundwave silently responded.

 _Then what did he mean?_ Randall asked.

The blue telepath stared at him silently, offering up no response.

 _Private?_ Randall asked.

 _Yes._ Soundwave replied.

As he stared at the impassive TIC, Randall wondered just how much he knew about everything and everybody that he wished he didn't know.

A sharp cry of pain jerked him from his thoughts, and he looked up.

Thundercracker was kneeling on top of Starscream, Skywarp having seized hold of both twisted wings.

"Will you yield, Starscream?" the larger blue seeker sneered in the younger's face.

"Never!" the wide-opticed mechling beneath him spat derisively.

Thundercracker nodded to Skywarp, and, biting his lip, the purple seeker twisted the red and white wings sharply.

Starscream let out another cry of pain, tears pooling in his optics.

"Submit, and we will let you up." Thundercracker snarled.

Soundwave stalked forward " Release." He commanded flatly.

The three seekers looked up at him, then the larger two slowly moved off the smaller, who remained on the floor, but flipped to his knees, looking up pitifully through streaming optics at the imposing blue mech standing above him.

"Don't take me." he whimpered, then a sad cry escaped him as Soundwave bent down and hauled him to his feet.

Thundercracker and Skywarp moved to where they could grasp the twisted, trembling wings in their servos as Soundwave took the SIC's blue servos in his own.

"Come." he said, and began leading him down the tunnel.

"NOOOOO!" Starscream fought, his panicked scream rising in volume till all three mechs holding him winced.

They dragged the howling, struggling seeker down the hall and around the corner, never once glancing back at Randall, sitting dumb in the middle of the hall.

Once they were gone, Randall shook himself. "I've got to get out of here." He said determinedly. " If they will do that to one of their own, what do they do to their prisoners?"

As he said that, he was suddenly reminded of the other prisoners in this evil place.

Hurriedly, he powered the wheelchair back into the main room, which he found completely by chance having no idea where he was-and empty.

Remembering that he had been unconscious for who knew how long, he began looking for a way out.

First, he powered over to a ventilation vent, unscrewed it, backed up, and jumped the chair up into it, spinning around and screwing the vent back into place.

"All those times sneaking around at base sure helped me out this time." He chuckled to himself, and then set off.

He was glad he was in the vents as he passed many other Decepticons, walking down halls, fighting with each other, working on various things.

But no prisoners.

Randall was worried that they were in a place with no ventilation vents when a faint sound banished all thoughts of prisoners from his mind.

It sounded like…. , a mix between a screaming, bawling, and a clanging sound?

An evil, booming laugh punctuated the faint sobs.

Against his better judgment, and following his curiosity, Randall headed in the direction of the horrible noises.

The sounds got louder and louder, until Randall was certain he was indeed hearing Starscream being brutally punished.

The deafening, metallic clangs had stopped by the time he found the vent looking out upon the dim room that the two mechs, Megatron and Starscream, were in.

Starscream was chained to a bench, head hanging over the side and sobbing harshly, his trembling blue legs spread far apart and his wings dripping some kind of blue essence, the large gray mech ending over him, biting at the seeker's neck.

It took the horrified boy a moment to recognize it as energon he was seeing, and the same fluid plus a shiny discharge and some clear lubricant was dripping from a port Randall had never seen before on any mech.

Realization slapped him hard in the face, and Randall had to choke back the bile that rose in his throat as he figured out what had just happened.

Megatron was standing up now, and Randall hid his face so as not to see what he might look like, then looked back as he heard something click in place.

" I am much disappointed in you, my dear Starscream." The sickening purr that came from the evil overlord's throat almost made Randall puke again. " Stealing my best chance to get all the energy I need to return to Cybertron, and trying to seduce your trine to turn against me? Very serious crimes, my pretty one. It requires harsh punishment, don't you agree?"

Starscream gave no response; just lay limply over the bench, still sobbing.

Megatron lifted his huge ped and kicked the limp form right in the dripping port between his shaky legs.

A horrible scream ripped its way from the SIC's throat, and his wings went ridged as his back arched in agony.

Megatron kicked him again, and again, each time the seeker writhed more desperately and screamed louder and more painfully.

The pain must have been excruciating, Randall thought, as he found himself rooted to the spot, watching in revulsion at the cruelty displayed before him.

 _What will be done to me?_ He could not help wondering fearfully, shivering in dread.

After a few more kicks, the monster stopped.

"You never have learned to talk properly, have you?" he sneered at the piteously sobbing mech in front of him. "All these years I have patently tried to teach you, and you never learn."

Starscream pulled weakly at the chains binding him, just to be booted flat once more.

"Speak, Starscream!" his master roared. " Do you or do you not require harsh punishment?"

Desperately, the smaller mech shook his head no, only to have his wings seized and twisted once more.

"I said _SPEAK!_ " Megatron snatched up the bowed head and bellowed in his audio.

Randall watched as Starscream opened his mouth, but no sound came out, just agonized crying.

The seeker squeezed his optics closed as tears streamed from them, cringing as Megatron waited for a second or two.

Now Randall could understand why he was so desperate to get away, and he wondered if any of his trine mates knew of what went on in this miserable room.

He felt certain Soundwave knew, and he felt disgust for the impassive blue mech rise in his stomach.

Megatron punched the streaming optics and dropped the mechling's head, rising to his feet and striding to the other side of the room.

Randall forced his eyes from the pitiful figure bound to the bench and noticed for the first time the shelf that was where Megatron was now.

A collection of various things was on it, but Randall averted his eyes, not wishing to see them.

He did see, however, what was in the gray tyrant's hands when he turned around: a pulsing blue whip.

Randall was glad he was seated, or he knew his legs would have given out, from pure pity for the tortured Starscream.

Not wishing to watch anymore, he was about to turn away when Megatron spoke, in a _gentle_ tone?

" Star, Star, it hurts me to punish you like this."

 _Yeah right._

"But it must be done to quell your misbehavior, because I love you and wish you to grow up right."

Randall wondered how much Starscream believed _that_.

The very word, love, sounded wrong coming from this twisted mech's mouth.

"Now I will allow you to choose the rest of your punishment. Answer me truthfully, do you want whipped or shut up in the box?"

Randall didn't know what 'the box' was, but he bet it was more pleasant then being whipped.

So he was shocked when a frantic Starscream croaked out, " W-whip me, p-please!"

Megatron seemed just as shocked, arching an optic ridge as he stepped closer to the violently shaking mech.

"Surely you don't want that. I told you to tell me the truth. Now say it."

"Wh-whip m-me." Starscream whimpered.

Flipping on a switch, the whip in his servos flickering and humming now, he began shoving it up the open port between the twitching legs of the battered mechling.

"AGGHHHHHH!" Starscream's body shuddered violently, and he clawed at the air, choking on his own screams as sparks flew from the other end of his body.

"Well?" Megatron drawled, obviously enjoying the intense agony his SIC was in.

He then withdrew the dripping whip and lashed it down across the trembling wings.

"Whua aghh, p-p-pl-master!" Starscream wailed out.

"Yes, my pretty one?" Megatron stopped striking him and cradled the dark face in his servos, the tears pooling and running over the edge of his cupped palms.

" Pu-put me in the b-b-ox." Starscream sobbed.

Megatron slowly and in mock sadness shook his head. " Now you are truly lying, my precious pet." He said, petting the top of the seeker's head. " If you had begged for a whipping once more, I would have let you go. But now…"

"NOOOOOOO!" Starscream thrashed weakly as the whip cracked down once more over his wings, then again and again, each strike wrenching a heart-rending scream from the tri-colored seeker.

Randall wanted to run, to avert his eyes, to cover his ears, but he was rooted to the spot, unable to move one inch of his body of his own accord as he stared in horror at the unwarranted beating the younger mech was being forced to bear.

It was not until the paint was in ribbons on the seeker's back and wings did the cruel leader of the Decepticons stop the punishment.

Laying the still pulsating whip down, seeming not to notice the tip graze the still weeping port on the beaten mech's backside, Megatron unchained Starscream and lifted him in his arms, cradling him like a baby.

Starscream lay almost lifelessly in the strong gray arms; the endless crying though told that he was still alive.

Randall had seen a large sturdy metal box in the corner of the room earlier, but it was only now he realized what it was for as Megatron dragged it into the center of the room.

He could see it was barely the size of the seeker as Megatron opened the heavy lid and bundled the flyer inside, face down, arms behind his back and legs folded under him.

"No, no, M-Megatron, please!" a weak, pleading voice came from the seeker being forced into the now-small looking box.

"So now you talk." Megatron continued forcing him inside. "Too late for that now, I'm afraid, my little prize."

"Any, anything you wish!" Starscream rasped. " Anything!"

"Then be quiet!" Megatron barked at him, and finished cramming him inside. "There. We'll see how submissive you can be when I come to get you and see if you deserve to come out of this little home of yours or not."

An excruciating wail came from inside the box and was abruptly cut off by Megatron slamming down the lid and locking it tightly.

Megatron flipped off the switch to the whip, placed it back on the bench, and walked out, not even glancing at the silent box in the center of the room.

Randall saw red as he thought of all the things he would like to do to Megatron for this.

Even though Starscream was about to probably torture him and kill him earlier, Randall still did not enjoy seeing him abused in such a matter, and he kinda understood now why he was so unpredictable and dangerous.

Being treated like that would drive anyone insane.

Turning to go, he almost screamed as he ran right into a solid blue leg.

He had not even heard the telepath approach him, though since he was so riveted on the scene in the other room he was not surprised.

 _To resist him, is deadly. You see now?_

Randall was not surprised by the fact Soundwave preferred to speak by thoughts here.

 _Yes, but-_ _But nothing! You MUST not resist him! To do so is a long and painful death!_

 _I will not help him, Soundwave. No matter what you say._

 _But you must._ The telepath seemed frustrated. _All the other flesh-creatures will be tormented before your eyes until it is your turn._

Randall glared up at him. _I don't care._

Soundwave stood stock-still, unresponsive suddenly.

 _And I'm going to get Starscream out of there and fixed up._ Randall thought fiercely.

Soundwave knelt down by him. _No. But I will get you out of here. You do not deserve this fate._

 _But, but Starscream!_

 _Starscream will be fine. He had borne this before._

 _For how long?_

 _I do not wish to record it._

 _But you do._

Soundwave unstrapped him and scooped him up. _All in all, just over nine million years._

 ** _Why don't you do something?!_**

 _I am no Autobot. The fate of another means little to me, so long as I myself am satisfied._

 _Then why do you help me?_

 _I don't know._ The TIC confessed.

Randall's memories from then on were jumbled and confused as Soundwave gently deposited him inside his chest compartment.

He remembered seeing Megatron pounce on Soundwave as soon as the mech had emerged from the ventilation shaft, demanding to know where Randall was.

Soundwave had calmly lied, saying he did not know, but was already searching for him.

Megatron had growled a threat that Randall just could not make out if the telepath did not find the boy, but it had made the seemingly insensitive mech tremble slightly.

Then a search was hastily assembled, but no luck, of course.

Then Megatron decided to lay a trap for him.

And it probably would have worked, if he had not been trapped inside of Soundwave at the time.

The thirty-some human captives were beaten, force to rape one another, and slowly torn into pieces and murdered.

It took over four hours for Megatron and the others to torture and kill the humans, Soundwave himself watching over it all impassively.

As for Randall, he had curled into a ball and cried and cried the whole time, the tortured cries of the people ringing in his ears.

Soundwave had said nothing to him the entire time, but when it was all done, Megatron erupted into a horrid rage, and every 'con bolted from the room, including the TIC.

Then he finally spoke. _I will be unable to take you myself. You must find a way._

He then had left Randall to build his sub, and then returned to take him out of the base.

Soundwave seemed strained as he shoved Randall and his little sub out a small crack in the door before shutting it without a word.

Randall had driven like crazy all the way back to shore, and then was rescued by a surfer who found him after he hid his sub nearby and dragged himself up onto the beach.

He had spent a month in a hospital recovering, then escaped one night and was found by Jazz while on patrol.

Optimus had fussed greatly over him when he was returned, and hardly let him out of his sight for some time after that.

Randall had told him that he had been captured by the orphanage staff and detained for a while before he escaped.

But he was afraid his reoccurring nightmares would give him away, and had been thankful Prime seemed to swallow the lies he offered about the stories the other bots told him.

Since then, he had been in and out of the Decepticon base more times then he could count, keeping an eye on Starscream and Soundwave.

Lately, he had been noticing that Soundwave had offspring he did not recall him having before, and discovered that Megatron was the father of them all after watching them interface, something Soundwave appeared to hate.

From what he had learned from Ratchet about Autobot reproduction, which he assumed was the same for their enemies, he figured out Megatron had forcibly bonded with Soundwave as punishment for not locating Randall.

It seemed to be having affects on Megatron too, as he was more caring towards the handsome blue mech now, as though he feared what might happen to him if something awful happened to his TIC.

Randall could not really tell what Soundwave thought of it, other then he loved his little ones and he hated interfacing with the tyrant.

Starscream, however, seemed surlier then ever, and seemed even colder towards his trine mates.

As Randall raced through the tunnel, he forced the foul memories from his mind and focused on the task at hand.

He had just enough cloaking devices to take two mechs with him, and two left for Bumblebee and Optimus's mate.

He figured on taking Ratchet and of course Optimus, and he just hoped the rest would stay behind as he would order.

Reaching a hatch above that would be close to the ambush site, he opened it and climbed out.

Riding quickly to where they had been attacked, he scanned the area, relived he got there first.

Only to remember that he had never told Prime where they were surprised at, and therefore the leader had no idea where to go.

Thinking quickly, he recalled a dog whistle he had in his pocket.

He never used it for dogs, but to annoy the twins when they pranked him.

Grinning, he blew long and loud, and after a short time, was rewarded with a dust cloud to the west that was quickly approaching.

Relived, he put the whistle away and leaned on the handlebars of his motorcycle, waiting on the Autobots to reach him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Six

"Behind me, Cody!" Smokescreen was panicked, training all his weapons on the prone seeker, who kept his eyes fastened on Cody, who had taken a step back at first but now, ignoring his friend's frantic warnings, knelt by the dark face and peered into the flashing crimson optics.

As for Starscream, he had recovered his initial shock and had confirmed that he was not looking at Randall re-borne, but a descendant of his.

Judging from his curiosity and the fact the annoying youngling called him Cody, he deduced this was the brat who played with the dim-witted Rescue Bots… but what was he doing here, and not with his blundering pets?

"Starscream?" the boy spoke hesitantly, kindness in his voice.

"That would be me." The seeker replied testily, growing aware once more of the tears still trickling from his sore optics.

"I'm Cody." The boy told him, and Starscream rolled his optics and sighed. " So I heard." Glaring at Smokescreen, who was shaking violently.

Before he could say anything more, a soft cloth was applied to his faceplates, and he saw that Cody had taken his handkerchief from his back pocket and was drying the mech's tears.

Starscream growled and snatched the cloth away, wiping his own face and slowly sitting up, wincing at the mess on himself and the floor.

"What happened?" Cody asked, standing to his feet, but not moving away, making Starscream arch an optic ridge at him for his boldness.

"What does it look like?" he snapped, finishing cleaning his face and using the damp cloth to dab uselessly at his wings and legs.

" I think you purged, but why? I thought you could handle anything." Cody seemed perplexed, and Starscream threw the cloth at Smokescreen, who ducked it quickly, before replying.

"Your stupid _friends_ thought it would be a good idea to lock me up in that hole." Starscream pointed angrily to the small, dank cell they had unintentionally released him from.

"H-had I know it was you, I would have left you to suffer!" spat Smokescreen, still trembling, but not so much as he slowly realized the con was unarmed.

"But that's not right!" Cody shot back at his friend, taking Starscream's servo and helping him to his feet in a familiar way.

The seeker did not protest, but dusted himself off a bit as he stood and stretched.

"Listen to the human." He sneered. "It's not right to lock a seeker up where he can't move or see. Your _leader_ always champions obeying humans anyway."

"But that's wrong too!" Cody looked up at him earnestly as Smokescreen fumbled for words. " The bots do not obey us, we merely work together for the good for all!"

"For the good of all. How nice." Starscream mocked. "And was it for my good I was locked in that torture cell?"

"Yes it was, you evil, dirty con, and you'll get back in there if you know what's good for you!" Smokescreen threatened, edging closer.

Starscream actually threw his head back and laughed. "Listen to the youngling, ordering me around like he's Prime himself. Oh, I'm so scared!" he said scornfully.

"I'll shoot you if you don't." Smokescreen threatened again, but his voice wavered.

"Go ahead!" Starscream held out his arms as though welcoming the shot. " I'm just standing here, unarmed and not harming anyone."

"No!" Cody dashed to stand in front of the blue peds. " Don't shoot him, Smokescreen! I don't think he deserves to be in that cell, no matter what he's done!"

"Now here's a boy who speaks sense." Starscream scooped him up and brought him close to his face. "Maybe you can talk me out of here and help me go free? Hmm?"

"I can't do that. I'm already in trouble for just being down here. I'm not allowed to go near you." Cody told him firmly.

"And why not?" Starscream purred, setting Cody on his shoulder and starting to walk away, Smokescreen gaping at them before hurrying to catch up.

"Optimus told me you were dangerous and would seduce me into helping you." Cody admitted. "And I can see why."

"He's right, you know." Starscream chided. " You should not have come near me."

"Don't you dare hurt- ** _mph_**!" Smokescreen's cry was muffled as Starscream slammed a blue servo over his mouth.

"Shut up, you imbecile! Do you want us caught?" Starscream hissed.

Smokescreen tried to bring his guns up, but Starscream forced them away. " Don't make a sound, or try to call for help." He threatened. " Or I will shut you up _permanently_. Do I make myself clear?"

Smokescreen nodded, optics bulging as Starscream grinned evilly and picked up the now-filthy cloth that had been Cody's handkerchief and used it to gag the smaller mech, following it up with an actual gag from a nearby shelf.

"Can't trust the word of a noble Autobot when expected to remain silent around me." He remarked to Cody as he worked. " They tend to rat on me."

"What are you going to do?" Cody asked, not moving from his perch on the seeker's shoulder.

"I'm going to erase the tapes of you two going into the lower cells, that's what!" Starscream exclaimed, as though it was common sense for Cody to know that.

"But why? Why would you help us?" Cody was confused.

Starscream set off briskly once more, making sure the frustrated Smokescreen walked in front of him so he couldn't try anything from behind.

"Because I promised an old friend of mine that I would help any of his kin who I found in need." He said softly, so softly only Cody could hear.

"Friend…" Cody whispered. "Are you taking about Randall?"

"Yes." Starscream did not sound so terrible when he wasn't making threats or making fun of someone, Cody thought.

"So you didn't kill him." Cody stated.

"How smart of you to figure it out. You're the first one in decacycles or more." Starscream said wearily. "Other then his actual killer of course, none other then Megatron himself. I only tried to save his life, but your precious Prime stopped me." He spat angrily.

"He thought you were killing him." Cody said softly.

"Well, he could have at least given me a chance to explain myself!" Starscream snapped, sounding hurt.

"From what I hear, Optimus was so close to him, that he was probably blinded by grief when he saw you, and it clouded his judgment." Cody reasoned.

"I don't care the reason." Starscream snarled. " I was almost turned into scrap because of him!"

"I understand." Cody said softly.

"No you don't!" Starscream hissed. "Now be quiet. It would be a pity to be discovered so close to our goal and have to use you for a bargaining chip, now would it?"

Cody was silent.

"Good." Starscream breathed, then suddenly lunged and seized Smokescreen, pinning his arms and legs to him with incredible strength.

"Can't have you causing a ruckus either." The seeker chuckled darkly, and crept stealthily down the hall.

Cody's mind was spinning with questions, like, How was he related to Randall? And, How did this enemy seeker know his way around the base like the back of his servo? And, why was he in the condition Cody and Smokescreen found him in that cell? The boy was pretty certain that just being locked up did not cause that reaction…

Suddenly Starscream hurtled through a doorway and threw himself on top of Smokescreen, pressing into a corner of the room.

Cody clung on for dear life, almost being hurled from his perch except that Starscream had turned his head and caught Cody's jacket in his dentas before allowing him to scramble back onto his shoulder.

The three lay huddled in the corner of the room as some Autobots walked by, talking and laughing together.

Cody could tell it was the twins, and he saw terror flash through Starscream's optics, as the terrible two seemed to pause outside the doorway.

Smokescreen started to struggle, but Starscream it down on his neck viscously, stilling him once more.

"Lets go see to our, _guest_ , shall we, Sunny?" Sideswipe asked, laughingly.

"Sure thing, Sides. Lets see if we can get the Screamer to scream for us!" Sunstreaker said gleefully.

Starscream started trembling, and Cody laid a hand on his neck in an attempt to calm him.

Thankfully, the twins walked off, still chatting gaily to each other, completely unaware that their prey was cowering just a few feet away.

"That was too close." Starscream murmured as he shakily stood to his feet. " We'd better hurry. And that means being rid of you." He glared at Smokescreen, who began struggling once more.

Grasping a sensor on the young bot's lower abdomen, Starscream dug his claws in and was rewarded when Smokescreen passed out a moment later.

"Did you hurt him?" Cody asked in alarm.

"Only a little." Starscream replied. "Now lets move it."

Starscream shot out of the doorway and fairly flew down the hall, one servo snaking up to hold Cody in place with his slender blue fingers.

In short order, they had pulled in front of another room, and Starscream dashed inside.

Huffer was snoozing in front of the desk, peds propped up and mouth open.

Silently, Starscream crept up to the unsuspecting mech and pulled the same move he used on Smokescreen.

Huffer didn't even wake up as he slumped to the side where Starscream caught him and stuffed him into a closet and shut the door.

Then he rushed to the computer, sat down, and began typing like crazy, his slender finger flying over the keys instinctively as though he did this often.

Cody was silent, and still, knowing that the seeker needed his full concentration in order to pull this off before they were discovered.

In a few moments, which seemed like hours to the two at the desk, it was done.

Starscream leaned back and exhaled in relief as a message came up on the screen: _All tapes deleted._

"Better safe then sorry." Cody remarked, and Starscream weakly high-fived him.

They both jolted as milliseconds later, a loud alarm blared through the halls, and shouts were heard all over the place, Prime's commanding bellow rising above the sudden din.

"Uh-oh." Starscream gripped the edge of the desk in panic, his claws digging into the metal with little effort. "We need to hide- _now_!"

"We can go in the nursery." Cody offered.

"The nurser-wha?!" Starscream jerked his head up in bewilderment. "Since when?!"

"The Rescue Bots are sparklings thanks to a ray from Dr. Morocco." Cody explained quickly.

 _That explains why he is here then._ Starscream thought grimly.

Outwardly he shook his head vehemently. "No! You cannot let me near any of those sparklings! I will destroy them!" he said darkly, almost in panic, his claws ripping off pieces of the table as he clawed at it.

"Okay then." Cody thought rapidly. " My, er, Randall's room!"

"I can go there!" Starscream exclaimed in relief, and tore out of the tape room with a burst of speed even greater then the one he had used to get there.

He took Cody from his shoulder and cradled him protectively in his servos as he ran.

"Where are you going?! My room is that way!" Cody asked in alarm.

"But the shortcut is this way!" Starscream desperately raced along the corridor, coming to a sudden halt under a ventilation shaft.

"Lets hope this still works." Cody heard him mutter to himself before speaking silkily to the vent. " Open wide, my precious prize!"

To Cody's amazement, the vent swung down and Starscream leaped up into the shaft beyond, barely clearing the entrance before it swung shut behind him.

"Randall and I had all sorts of ways to come and go as we pleased." Starscream chuckled. " I know this whole base as well as my own-better, perhaps, then the ones who actually live here." He chuckled again as he set off down the shaft.

He replaced Cody onto his shoulder.

"In fact, I bet I can guess which room they made into the nursery-but I don't want you to tell me, for your sake."

"Why do you want to kill the sparklings?" Cody asked, puzzled.

Starscream sighed heavily. " Look kid, when you've been through what I've been through, anything young and helpless and innocent and happy deserves to die."

"You don't have to do that you know." Cody said earnestly, and Starscream laughed bitterly.

"Oh yes I do. There is no control over my desire to kill." The seeker shuddered as he said this.

"But you _can_ , Starscream! You _do_ have control over yourself, you just have to choose to use it!" Cody pleaded with him.

Starscream closed his optics briefly.

He sounded so much like what Randall would tell him.

"Just forget it." He muttered, wanting to change the subject. " Who's all here with you? Or are you all alone?"

"Well," Cody began. " I was supposed to be all alone, but my brother Kade snuck so he is here too."

"You have a brother?" Starscream asked as he turned a corner.

"Yep. Two of them. And one sister." Cody confirmed happily. "I'm the youngest."

"You have a father? Mother?" Starscream pressed, and Cody glanced away.

"We have our dad… but mom was abusive and Dad arrested her and divorced her. I'm never told much about her. Dad says it will have to wait until I'm older."

"Hmm." Was all Starscream said to that.

After a few moments of silence, Starscream asked another question. "Why did Kade come along?"

"He is bonded to Heatwave, and didn't want to be parted from him." Cody replied.

Starscream choked. " They're, _mates_?!"

"No, no!" Cody hurriedly explained. " Not that kind of bond!"

"Okay." Starscream waved away any more explanations. " So what does this Heatwave do?"

"He's a firefighter, like Kade. And he takes care of me." Cody sounded sad suddenly. " Now it's my turn to care for him."

"So he's one of the sparklings." Starscream mused.

"Yep. Me and the bots are all best friends, but Heatwave and I were closest." Cody sounded distant.

Starscream hardly noticed.

"So, would you come with me back to my base?" he asked hopefully.

Cody looked at him in shock. "No! The sparklings need me!" he exclaimed passionately.

"No they don't." Starscream tried to sound persuasive, but Cody shook his head firmly.

"They do. None of us want to start over with the bots learning our ways and bonding all over again. So I am along to teach them about humans as they grow up. And Kade now too." Cody added. "And, I want to repay Heatwave for all those times he saved my life and was simply there for me when I needed someone. He's the best friend I could ever have asked for."

 _I_ _ **have**_ _to kill those sparklings!_ Starscream thought desperately. _Especially that Heatwave! But I can't let the boy know it was I who did it, or he would gladly watch my punishment afterwards if I was caught. Or even help. I'd probably be beaten to death._

The seeker was thankful when he looked down and saw they were above Randall's old room.

Moving to a side shaft, Starscream slid open the panel and stepped out, sliding it shut behind him.

"Are you sure you do not wish to go with me?" he asked once more.

Cody nodded. "I am sure. How do you plan on escaping?"

Starscream nodded towards the wall. " Rand and I had many ways in and out, remember? I'll just-"

The door opened and Kade burst inside, his panicked eyes roaming the room before settling on the frozen seeker and Cody on his shoulder.

"NOO!" Starscream leaped for Kade, but it was too late.

The firefighter had already retreated and slammed the door, sliding several locks into place as they heard him use his comm., his voice rising in panic.

"He's got him! In his room!"

Starscream rolled his optics again. " I just hope Smoky doesn't rat on us." He set Cody down gently and strode to the wall. "Goodbye, Cody. We'll meet again soon." He said as he began activating sensors on the wall.

An electric shock threw the seeker backwards, and he landed heavily with a groan.

"Starscream!" Cody cried, and raced towards the seeker, kneeling by his side and placing a worried hand on his arm.

"They booby trapped it!" Starscream gasped, his optics widening as he heard locks unclicking from the door.

He shot to his feet, grasping Cody firmly in his servo. " I won't hurt you, just act like I am, okay?" Starscream whispered urgently to the boy in his grip. " And act like you're terrified of me. It's my best shot at getting a better cell at least."

Cody nodded and swallowed, then began struggling madly. "Hurry!" he shrieked in terror. "Help me!"

Starscream allowed his evil smirk to show as he held a struggling Cody and faced the door, his trembling wings the only thing betraying his nervousness.

"When I'm finished with you, flesh-creature," He snarled, and he felt Cody's pulse quicken. "No one will be able to help you!"

Cody screamed, and the door finally burst open.

Optimus burst in first, followed by Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, and the rest.

Starscream's optics, however, were locked in Prime's icy yellow glare, and he swallowed nervously, his wings drooping in submission without him willing it.

Every time they had met with a human involved, the encounters had been intense.

The last time, however, it had been most unpleasant, but there was that one time, the time they first had a human they both came to love bring them together, and if Starscream was reading the Prime right, (which he probably was), by his softened, yet pained, expression, he was remembering the same…


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Seven

"Alright you two, listen up." Randall was speaking to the two Autobots he had chosen to come along on this dangerous rescue attempt.

It had taken a lot of courage for him to command Prime and Ratchet to be the only bots to come with him, but Optimus had upheld his decision in the end and forbidden the remaining bots to follow, sending them back to base instead.

He had spent the whole journey telling his story to the two listening Autobots, who never once interrupted him, other then Prime and Ratchet both shooting him pitying looks as he described the torture he witnessed on both Starscream and the humans.

Now they were on the last leg of their journey, and he had given them his map of the Decepticon base to memorize before they entered.

"Ratchet, I want you to find Bumblebee, and Optimus, you and I will find your mate. Ratchet, place the cloaking device on Bee ASAP, and Prime, you can do your mate. Once we locate them we will beat it out of here. Try not to get into any skirmishes. I don't have to remind you we are awfully outnumbered around here." He stared into their determined optics as they nodded silently, and just hoped they could pull this off.

Then he warped them into a ventilation shaft inside the base, and their real work began.

They had agreed to stick to the shafts as long as possible, because even with the cloaking devices, they still had a chance of being discovered when they went through the halls.

But as they began walking, the sound of their footsteps echoing along the shafts made Randall cringe.

"Uh, guys?" he whispered softly. " This isn't going to work. You're too loud."

Both mechs stopped and looked at him.

"You two go into the halls, Optimus, you carry the cloaking device, and _try_ not to bump into anyone, okay?"

"Alright." Ratchet said, and Optimus nodded again.

Randall was getting nervous with the leader's cold silence, and he hoped the strong mech could hold himself together if he found his mate suffering.

He almost passed out as a thought came to him: Optimus Prime and his mate were bonded, so _of course_ he knew what was going on!

But before Randall could say anything to the enormous bot, he had opened a side vent and had hopped out, disappearing from sight as he activated his cloaking device.

Randall clutched his souped up gun he held in his hand, and scurried along the vents.

He _had_ to get to Prime's sparkmate first, or else all hell might break loose.

He was not worried about Ratchet, but he had seen Prime make more then one foolish decision based on his own feelings instead of logic, something that drove Prowl up a wall.

The teenager knew that if Prime had to, he would throw himself away for his mate.

And they could not lose their leader, or they were all doomed.

He had a pretty good idea where the leader's mate was; after all, he had been studying these Decepticons and theirs ways all this time, he _should_ know where they would have her.

Megatron would know that Optimus would come after her, and therefore would have her in a very public place, somewhere he was all the time, and could- the Throne Room!

Randall zipped though the shafts, knowing that Optimus knew the gray leader even better then he did and was probably already halfway there or more.

To his surprise, when he reached the Throne Room, at first it appeared empty.

The he heard a faint groan, and he look down.

Lying in the center of the room before the throne was the Prime's mate, the area from her chest to her abdomen slashed open.

Randall fairly flew to her, fear spurring him on.

Sure enough, when he reached her, he saw that even if Ratchet was there now, she would still die, but the worst of it was: _the sparkling was gone!_

"Randall." Randall heard the faint whisper, and he knelt by the femme's head and stroked her face lovingly.

"Randall, Megatron took my sparkling to Starscream. He wants to spark the seeker. You must rescue my sparkling. His name is Smokescreen. Tell Optimus Megs never intended for me to die; he only wanted our sparkling." Her optics were closed, and Randall had to lean close to hear her.

"Promise me Randall. Tell Optimus."

"I-I promise my lady." Randall spoke softly, and squeezed the trembling servo that reached up towards him.

Then he spoke into his comm. "Optimus, Throne Room now, if you want to say goodbye to your mate. And keep it cool, Megs never intended for her to die."

Randall cringed as he heard a roar of rage echo through the halls, and he looked down at the dying femme.

She gave a faint smile.

Astroseconds later, Optimus pounded in and skidded to his knees next to his love.

Randall moved away as the great leader began to weep bitterly, his mate weakly caressing his face.

No Decepticons seemed to be around, and Randall figured Megatron had ordered them to leave the two in the Throne Room alone.

Randall didn't bother with sticking to the vents now.

He raced along the halls until he came to the most hated room in the base, then slipped in to a vent, as the door was always locked.

Ratchet buzzed in. " I got Bumblebee-"

"Good. Get to the 'porter and wait. Do not go near Prime or the Throne Room at any cost."

There was a moment of silence. " Okay." The old medic said, and Randall knew he would do as he said.

Randall dreaded to peer down into the evil room, but he forced himself to, and he saw what he feared.

Megatron was kneeling atop a heavily sobbing Starscream, the seeker's chassis also cut open from chest to abdomen, but a lot more carefully.

Obviously Megatron discovered his error from the femme, and was making sure he would not kill his SIC in the same way.

A pulsing bag with a long shiny sting-like tail thing was in his servos, and he was tenderly placing the bag in the abdomen of the seeker, and stringing the tail-thing up through his chest towards his rapidly pulsing spark, which looked odd.

Randall had seen plenty of sparks before, even other 'con ones, but this one looked… awful.

It was ripped, stained, smaller then normal, and chipped in several places.

There were burn marks all around its holder, and the grippers around it were twisted and cracked.

Pieces of it seemed to be missing, and there were long claws marks all around it.

Randall gulped as he did the one thing he had never dared to do in all his time of sneaking in this base: actually enter the Room of Despair, as he called it.

Thankful for his cloaking device, and the fact that Megatron was really absorbed in what he was doing, since Starscream's heaving sobs were making it hard to situate the sparkling's case in place, he crept right up to the large gray monster and snatched the sparkling and attachments right out of the large servos.

Megatron's mouth gaped in shock, as Randall hugged the shiny, pulsating bundle to him tightly, the cloaking tech enveloping it as well.

Then with a roar of pain and anger, he began beating Starscream, without even putting him back together.

Every time his heavy servo slammed inside the seeker, the poor thing let out the worst cries Randall had heard yet.

Megatron ripped wires and cables as he howled his fury to the ceiling, Starscream writhing beneath him.

Randall dashed to the vent and slipped back inside.

Dashing down the vent, he commed Ratchet. " Ratch, get to me in the Throne Room and spark Optimus."

"What?!" Ratchet sounded incredulous- and slightly furious.

"You'll see when I get there." Randall told him, trying to ignore the anguished cries from behind him.

Reaching the Throne Room in record time, he found Optimus still cradling his mate, now dead, tears running from his face onto her still form.

Ratchet arrived mere seconds later, and Randall explained in short order what had to be done.

Optimus lay down without a word, and Ratchet set to work as Randall handed the rapidly dimming bundle to Bumblebee.

Then, gripping his gun, he turned and dashed back to where he had just came from.

He had had enough of seeing the youngest seeker abused.

He was going to do something about it this time.

When he reached the room, Megatron was still at it.

The SIC was in shreds, literally, one of his wings were crumpled against the wall and the other one barely hanging on.

Wires and cables lay everywhere, and energon was spurting like a fountain, spraying the howling menace above Starscream, who had gone silent.

His legs and arms were ripped and lay in tatters, and his face was unrecognizable.

Randall was afraid the seeker had died, and he almost hoped he had, but then he caught sight of that damaged spark still pulsing; faintly, but it was still pulsing.

Randall squeezed out of the vent once more, trying to decide if he should shoot the seeker's fluttering spark and end his misery, or the monster that harmed him.

Soundwave decided it for him.

"Master, you are needed in the Deportation Room. Prime wishes to speak to you." Soundwave had opened the door and was standing in the hall outside.

Randall nearly jumped.

Deportation Room?

That was far removed from where he had left the mechs in the Throne Room.

Megatron turned to his TIC. " I'm on my way." He rasped, and headed out into the hall, head bowed.

Soundwave followed, leaving the door open.

Randall was not sure if the mysterious blue mech was once again coming to his aid or not, but now he knew what his choice would be.

Putting his gun away, he took out his tools, and began to repair the damaged seeker as best he could.

Within minutes of commencing work, Randall knew it was hopeless.

He simply didn't have the skills necessary to save Starscream's life, but he tried anyway, sweat dripping from his forehead as he labored over the shredded wires and stripped cables, welding snapped rivets and bolts back in place, and searching desperately for unstripped screws.

Now it was his turn to be surprised as a large servo was laid gently on his arm.

Suppressing a scream, he spun around and quickly recovered himself; it was only Ratchet, minus the cloaker.

Ratchet with Optimus, Bumblebee and a bound Soundwave that is, and the others did not have the cloaker either.

"Come, Randall." Ratchet's voice was gentle and kind. " There is nothing you can do. He is a Decepticon anyway, leave him."

"No!" Randall jerked away from Ratchet. "I won't! He doesn't deserve this, and I'm going to fix him, with or without your help!"

He glared at Soundwave. " Isn't your _mate_ going to be livid you lied to him?" he asked angrily. "Why do you keep helping me?!"

Soundwave actually winced. " Soundwave not lie to Megatron." He droned, though his voice sounded thicker then normal.

"Guys, stop choking him." Randall snapped.

"We're not." Optimus said dryly.

"Then what's wrong with your voice?" Randall demanded as he picked up yet another snapped bolt.

Soundwave bowed his head, and shimmering fluid dripped from behind his mouthplates as something metal clanked against the closed plating.

Randall figured it out quickly. " Oh." Was all he said at first, then: " Frag that slagging bastered!"

"We _were_ waiting in the Deportation Room." Bumblebee explained. " The operation is rather quick when you're Ratchet and you know what you're doing."

"Then he, er, punished Soundwave." Ratchet said uncomfortably, slowly kneeling next to the still silent seeker. " Blaming him for not having done something about you. I assume it is a force bond gone horribly wrong, as he seemed gentle with his blue pet, despite his… intrusion, in Wave's throat and then ramming a gun into it. He hid Wave's face from us while he did it, something I suppose the telepath communicated to hide his shame."

"Optimus gave Megatron a piece of his mind about his mate and attempted sparkling napping, and would you believe it, the fragger just stood there and took it!" Bumblebee exclaimed as Ratchet began helping piece the SIC back together along with Randall.

"I offered to fix the damage to his vocalizer, but Megatron's mulish pet won't let me. Said he deserved the punishment and would bear it until Megatron said he could be fixed." Ratchet said, frustrated.

"I thought you didn't help Decepticons." Randall remarked, arching an eyebrow as Soundwave stood statue still.

"Soundwave's different then most cons." Ratchet snapped.

"So is Starscream." Randall argued back.

"Starscream's pure evil!" Ratchet growled angrily.

" No he's not! Not really! He just needs a second chance!" Randall spat.

"Look kid." Ratchet tried to reason with him. " I know you've seen him tortured, but I assure you, he deserves it all the same. He is an evil, cruel, treacherous con, and he will never be anything else."

"You're wrong!" Randal fought back tears.

"Why you fight so for Starscream?" Soundwave ground out.

" Because I can sense he's different, just like you. And his trine, there is a hint of reluctance to them too, and your creations Soundwave, I have a fondness for them also. But the others, they could boil in hell and I wouldn't care." Randall found the seeker's vocalizer, and began fitting it in place.

Starscream's optics had onlined sometime during the operations, and his frantic red eyes remained locked on Randall as he worked.

"Megatron not all evil, either." Soundwave grit next.

Randall sighed and his shoulders slumped. " I get that feeling too, Soundwave, and I know you have more experience in that, but I feel he has gone to far… where _is_ that hulking gray menace, anyway?"

"Locked in his own Throne Room." Optimus said darkly. " I put him in there with a good hard kick to the aft."

Randall let out his breath in relief, then stiffened. " What about the rest of the army? And just what happened to your cloakers?" he asked.

"Soundwave ordered them away, and we made a deal with him to keep them off so he could see us." Bumblebee chirped gleefully. " I got to pin Rumble and Frenzy down while Optimus made sure he did as asked."

A faint growl emanated from the bound TIC, and Randall almost snarled at Bumblebee. "You idiot! Don't you know those are his _sparklings_?!"

Bumblebee cocked his head. " They seem a little old for sparklings." He said.

" Something went amiss in their formation due to the forced bond, and they came out almost fully formed, and already halfway through their youngling stage." Randall informed them all. " I was there for each birth."

"I thank for your support." Soundwave informed him.

"It was nothing, really." Randall waved away his thanks. " Glad I could help a little, since Megatron is such a pussy with birthing."

Soundwave and Randall shared a small chuckle, Ratchet quietly fumed, and Optimus looked abnormally sad.

"What's wrong, Prime?" Bumblebee asked, but just then Starscream's vocalizer clicked in, and he began screaming.

"I forgot to mention!" Ratchet hollered over the ear-splitting racket, " This is excruciatingly painful for him!"

"Don't you have sedative?!" Randall yelled back, ducking as Starscream began to flail his arms, though weakly, as Ratchet activated a downed system- evidently the movement one.

"Do I look like I carry sedative around with me!" Ratchet pinned the slender legs down as he welded a joint in place.

"You're a medic!" Randall gripped a handful of frayed wires fanning from the strained jaw, and expertly twisted them into place.

"But not a mobile one!" Ratchet had had enough.

Drawing out a wrench, he gently rolled the suffering seeker over and gave him a mighty whack to the back of his head.

The silence was blissful after the torture the SIC's screaming did to their ears and audio sensors.

"That should keep him out for a bit." Ratchet said in satisfaction, and he and Randall went to work once more, Bumblebee's question long forgotten.

No one kept track of long they labored, painstakingly piecing the broken seeker back together again, but a few hours into it, Soundwave began struggling against his tight bonds.

"Hey!" Bumblebee gave the silent telepath several sharp kicks in the shins, causing the blue mech to hop from one foot to the other in quiet pain.

Ratchet didn't even turn around. " Let him go." He ordered flatly.

"But Ratchet!" Bumblebee protested.

"Let. him. GO!" Ratchet seethed, and Bumblebee reluctantly cut the blue mech free.

Soundwave rubbed his wrists and seemed to glare at the yellow mechling, then strode to a corner of the room and activated some sensors in the wall.

A spigot came out, and Soundwave bent over it, spitting fluids from his mouth and drawing out a gun from his throat also.

He kept himself turned away from the others as he did so, but Randall had seen his face before, so he didn't really mind.

It was a handsome face, one that had seen lots of suffering and yet retained an almost noble expression, and kinda resembled someone Randall knew, but could never quite put his finger on who it was.

Ratchet suddenly rose from welding on a wing joint, silently passing it off to Randall, who took his place.

The medic strode over to the telepath, placing a servo on his shoulder and bending down to speak into his audio.

No one could hear what the old bot had to say to the younger con, but whatever it was caused the blue TIC to place his hands over his face and lean into Ratchet, shuddering softly.

Randall realized the almost emotionless Soundwave was, in fact, _crying_.

Ratchet took some of his tools, and, so tenderly Randall's mind decided to start spinning, opened his throat and fixed the damaged vocalizer.

When he had closed up the incision, Randall was close to an amazing discovery, and it was only confirmed by the wave of emotion that Soundwave let off as the old medic patted his back soothingly.

Randall still wasn't sure why he received so much feeling from the stolid mech, but something clicked and Randall almost face planted inside Starscream's interior when he caught what Ratchet gently told the other mech.

"A creator never forgets his own sparklings, even when he has not seen them in millennia."

"What is going on?" Optimus, who had dozed off some time ago, awoke in time to see Ratchet pull away from the telepath, who was still shaking slightly.

Bumblebee was just as confused; from where he was standing, he couldn't see or hear what was going on in the far corner of the room.

All he knew what that Randall was struggling to stay upright, and Ratchet was coming back to the downed seeker with a saddened look on his face.

"Just another patient, Prime." Ratchet said softly.

Optimus looked unconvinced, but said no more.

Randall discreetly squeezed Ratchet's servo as the medic took over the welding job, and looked into his optics.

"I'm sorry." He murmured and Ratchet bowed his head in reply.

"Does Prime know? That Soundwave is his long-lost little brother?" he breathed a second later as Ratchet passed him some larger pliers.

"No." the medic replied in a whisper. " And I hope he never finds out. He is sworn to serve Megatron, and he is a bot of honor, despite what he has to do as a Decepticon."

Randall and Ratchet worked in silence after that, while Soundwave remained bent over the sink for some time, before finally returning and holding out his wrists to be bound once more.

Bumblebee looked to Optimus, who shook his head, and Soundwave dropped his wrists and went to stand alone across the room, facing the two working on the SIC.

Hours passed, and then suddenly Soundwave urgently strode forward, pausing in front of Ratchet and Randall.

"Megatron will not allow you peace in his base any longer. You must go now." He said firmly, pointing towards the door.

As the blue mech spoke, Starscream's optics slowly onlined, and he whimpered pitifully.

"Shut up." Ratchet told him, brandishing a wrench to emphasize his point.

Starscream cringed, but went silent.

"What do you mean, will not allow us peace anymore?" Bumblebee demanded.

Soundwave didn't turn his head in the direction of the yellow car, but left his blank gaze on the two bent over the now-trembling seeker.

"He has been waiting on you to leave, but his patience is no more, he wants you gone."

"You've been telling him we're here, haven't you!?" Bumblebee cried angrily, and Soundwave did not respond yes or no, just kept staring straight ahead.

"Then we must go." Optimus rumbled, lurching to his feet. " But fist we must place Starscream in his own medic bay. We cannot leave him like this."

"I agree." Randall and Ratchet spoke simultaneously.

"I-I can't walk though!" Starscream cried fearfully. "And I'll just be beaten again when he comes back!"

"He won't be beating you for a little while at least." Soundwave told the crying SIC flatly, then turned and made his way out of the room, striding down the hall purposefully.

"What, what does he mean?" Starscream asked nervously.

"I think he is going to interface with Megatron for a while, to distract him from you." Randall said, looking the seeker over carefully.

"Why did you come back?" Starscream asked him suddenly.

"Private reasons." Randall answered, stroking the colorful SIC along side his face where he knew he liked it best.

Prime bent down and lifted the heavy jet into his arms.

"It was for me and Wave, wasn't it?" Starscream asked next.

Randall reached up and touched his fingertips to the tips of the seeker's blue claws, his slender arms dangling from Optimus's thick ones.

That seemed to be all the answer the injured seeker needed, and he settled down in the Autobot leader's hold with a soft sigh, closing his optics as he let his head loll back against the powerful chest.

It was obvious to all who was observing the jet snuggling as close as he could, that he was soaking up every bit of this rare comforting contact.

"You know, Randy." Ratchet said as they walked. " I think you may have been right about Screamer. All he needs is a better home, and this mechling could shape up aright."

"Yeah, but with a monster like Megatron keeping him, who knows how he'll be in a few hundred years." Bumblebee pointed out.

"I know." Ratchet sighed.

Everybot in the Rec room in the Ark was listening intently as Randall finished his narrative of the rescue attempt.

At first, none had wanted to listen to him, but Bumblebee and Ratchet had stood by him, and they had listened.

After they had deposited Starscream in the medic bay, the poor thing clinging to Prime and begging not to be left there as they pried him off as he clung desperately and tied him to the medical berth with heavy hearts and guilty consciences, they had beat a hasty retreat through the teleporters.

Optimus had made Randall remove all the teleporters as they went through them, and collapse his tunnels as he did so, so he could not return to the Decepticon base.

Randall had had a fit when his leader ordered him to do so, but a look from both the Prime and Ratchet assured him he would have to do as they say, and angrily he had done so.

Optimus had thanked him for his valuable help in knowing the con base inside and out, but he had decided he did not want to risk Randall anymore in that way, and he knew if he ordered him not to go, the boy would just disobey and go anyway.

The leader also informed him that he must be punished for having been sneaking of into the base alone, and then lying about it.

Randall blew his top at that, and spent a good half hour yelling at the Prime about it.

But the end result was the same: he was going to be punished, even though Optimus was grateful for the disobedience now, he could not let it slide.

But Randall left those parts out of his story; he was still too angry with the white, blue, and red mech to even look at him without lasers in his eyes.

All the assembled bots seemed overwhelmed by the thought that their Prime was carrying is own sparkling, and saddened by his mate's death.

Most of them thought that Randall's attachment to Soundwave and Starscream was treachery, until Ratchet settled that argument with a few words of his own.

Once the room had finally quieted, Optimus took the floor. " As you all now know, I am carrying. That means I have to be very careful in what I do from now on out. I have decided to cut time so I may carry in peace without Megatron interfering. I will be doing that now." So saying, he stepped off the speaking platform and headed out of the room, pausing just long enough to tell Randall to meet him in his office.

His stomach twisting nervously, Randall nodded and slowly headed off to his leader's office.

When he arrived, he sat down in a chair and nervously tapped the arm.

He did not know what to expect, since he had never been punished by any of the mechs before, and he almost regretted spilling his secret.

Almost.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Seven

Starscream gazed, petrified, as the Prime's gaze went from tender and thoughtful to harsh and angry, and he gulped, knowing what the massive Autobot was thinking now- Randall's death, which Optimus Prime blamed Starscream for.

Instinctively, he lowered his gaze as he whimpered, " I didn't do it."

"Enough!" Optimus thundered before he could go on. " I don't want to hear your pitiful excuses. Release the boy."

"No!" Starscream held Cody closer. " I won't and if you try to take him, I'll kill him."

He smirked as the other Autobots aimed their weapons at him.

"You won't shoot me. You risk harming Cody if you do." He sneered.

"Ah think ah can down 'im without endangerin' Cody." Ironhide said, taking careful aim at the seeker's colorful body.

"No, Ironhide, it's too risky." Optimus said, holding out his hand to steady the old warrior.

"I'll just be on my way then." Starscream snickered, backing slowly towards yet another vent, but bumped into what should have been thin air behind him and suddenly stumbled forward with a shocked look on his face.

Before he could recover, his servos were jerked apart and Cody fell, then was whisked by the invisible servo now holding him right before Mirage appeared, a gun trained on the seeker, who was now frozen in place, his eyes flickering in fear and anger.

"Thank you Mirage." Optimus said, giving a grateful look at the spy. "But who's with the sparklings?"

"Bluestreak, Jazz, and Kade." Sideswipe answered with a grin. "More then adequate protection from this oversized sparkling."

"I'm not a sparkling! You are!" Starscream protested hotly, ruby optics flicking from Prime to Sideswipe as he slowly straightened.

At that, Optimus shifted his gaze back to Starscream. "You will be taken straight back to your cell and punished for escaping." He said coldly. "Ironhide, Brawn, please remove him."

Starscream's optics went wide, and he threw himself at Optimus's peds, Mirage not daring to fire at him for fear of hitting Optimus now.

"No, no please!" he wailed, clutching the Prime's ankles desperately. "Please don't! I-I have important information I can give you just please don't do it!"

"What information?" Optimus asked, eyeing the seeker in disgust.

"Megatron knows of your sparkling, and comes to take him even as we speak." The jet whimpered, pressing his face onto Optimus's peds pleadingly.

"Why should we believe you?" Sunstreaker knelt down and sneered at the trembling SIC. " Almost every other time you speak you lie."

"P-Prime hear me!" Starscream kicked as Brawn grabbed his peds at a nod from Optimus. " Your, your forces, they caught me, did they not? And I did not fly to escape them! I am speaking the truth, Megatron wants your sparkling!" he clutched even harder as Ironhide gripped him about his middle.

The two strong bots tore the frantic Starscream from Optimus's peds, staggering as he fought to escape.

"Can we help punish him?" the twins edged closer, eagerness lacing their voices.

"No, that is my pleasure alone." A sickenly evil chuckle sounded from behind them. " Once a traitor, always a traitor, eh Starscream? I thought I commanded you to bring me my sparklings, and instead I find you revealing my plan to the Autobots. How typical."

"Megatron." Optimus whispered, optics widening, then spun around.

All eyes and optics were now on the huge gray mech, framed in the doorway, cradling a strangely contented Heatwave and Chase in his massive arms.

The evil warlord tickled the sparklings and smiled sweetly down at them, real tenderness and love in his gaze as the little fire truck and the police car smiled back up at him, and cooed.

Optimus seemed frozen, but strangely enough, the three seekers wore identical looks of betrayal and jealousy, though it was Thundercracker who spoke first.

"You never loved us like that and we were your sparklings first!" he wailed accusingly, his burning optics resting feverishly on his leader, who ignored the blue and white jet.

"Give them back." Optimus said in a choked voice, his whole frame trembling.

"No. It is my turn now, Optimus, and if you even _try_ to get them back, I will kill them. Isn't that right, Starscream?"

Starscream, who was trembling violently, obediently opened his mouth, but then his crazed optics glowed craftily.

"No. No you won't, Megatron." He sneered. " You won't kill your beloved sparklings you have spent so many millions of years searching for. And Thundercracker, we were not his first sparklings. These little ones were."

"He lies." Megatron croaked, his simmering gaze boring holes into the smirking seeker.

"Oh, no I do not. You told me everything that night you got so drunk you could hardly stand, but could still rape me the next _several hours_ , over and over again. You told me all: how you met Optimus when you were still a respected scientist and inventor, when you were still a Prime, and when he was merely know as Optronix the lowly store clerk, how you two fell in love, how you sparked him by _seeming mistake,_ not wanting to lose your true love when you eventually took control of Cybertron and the universe, and proposed to bond so as to bind him to you before it was too late, and how he ran away from you after watching one of your gladiator fights you organized just for him and hid the sparkling where you could never find him, and to later return to you as Optimus Prime, your new enemy. Only, you never told me there were _two_ sparklings!"

Both Megatron and Optimus were giving him very deadly looks, but the incensed seeker went on, his voice getting higher and shriller, while the listening Cybertronians around them grew more and more uneasy, exchanging highly uncomfortable glances with one another.

" And I know the true reason we fight and kill each other: Those sparklings! Autobots, I speak the truth, if your _glorious_ leader had never taken and hidden those very sparklings his almost-sparkmate is now holding from said mech, this war would never have begun. Megatron would never have attacked Cybertron in the way he did, searching ruthlessly for his sparklings. All we Decepticons are really used for is to find the sparklings and punish Optimus for his treachery to the one who truly loves- not _loved_ , but _loves,_ him. And to bring him back."

"That must be why we are called Seekers." Skywarp breathed, in a moment of intelligence.

"It is true." Starscream nodded.

"Heatwave and Chase, twins?" Cody was blown away. " And their creators are Megatron ad Optimus?"

"Yes." Starscream answered him, snickering at the looks on both Decepticon and Autobot faces.

"You, you," Megatron could not find the words for his anger, while Optimus seemed to have froze up completely and just stared at Megatron with a strange, almost frightened, look on his face.

The Decepticon leader turned to Thundercracker. " Thundercracker, shoot Starscream. Kill him!"

"No!" Thundercracker snapped. " I will not kill my trine leader, you pitiful excuse for a creator!"

"Do it, and I will make you Air Commander in his place!" Megatron shrieked in anger, and the twin sparklings began howling in his arms.

Ironhide had the strangest expression on his face, and his optics were locked with Ratchet's, whose face wore an identical look to that of his mate's.

"Stop shouting. You're scaring them." Trembling slightly, Prime moved closer to the Decepticon leader, his optics locked on his sparklings.

"I know, you're not the only one who can care for sparklings!" Megatron controlled his temper with an enormous effort, attempting to sooth the sparklings even as he glared at Thundercracker.

"Shoot Starscream, or your mate will suffer." He threatened, and the blue seeker's optics widened. "Soundwave?"

The sleek blue TIC stepped forward and seized the purple and black seeker firmly by both wings, then twisted sharply as a panicked look crossed Skywarp's face.

"TC! Please!" he cried as he was forced to his knees, and then a gun was pressed into his back.

Thundercracker looked from the pleading look on his mate's face, to the now-terrified one on his trine leader's face.

"Too long." Megatron sneered, and then a shot exploded and the trembling seeker in front of Soundwave fell forward with an agonized cry of pain, grabbing at his smoking back.

Thundercracker howled in agony, then turned on his former Air Commander and shot him- or at least tried to.

In the same instant, Brawn and Ironhide threw themselves, with Starscream still firmly held by both, to the ground, and Optimus lunged at Megatron, causing the other mech to sidestep quickly, straight into the path of Thundercracker's shot.

The large blue seeker screamed and redirected his shot, which meant it was heading straight for Mirage, who twisted sideways, but not far enough, taking the shot in his side.

Ironhide and Brawn could no longer hold the squirming tri-colored seeker, and he slipped from their grasp even as they pulled their own guns.

Cody was knocked to the floor as Cliffjumper fired recklessly at Starscream, the sparks from the shot striking all around the boy as the jet rolled out of harms way.

Laser fire erupted all over the place as Megatron spun and ran out of the room, Optimus in hot pursuit.

While Thundercracker lifted Skywarp into his arms, and began stumbling away after the leaders, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, and Ratbat defended themselves and the two seekers against the enraged Autobots.

Starscream was nowhere to be seen.

Between armored legs, Cody caught a glimpse of Soundwave dashing towards the nursery, and he dodged laser beams and heavy peds as he tore off after the telepath.

Blades and Boulder were still in there, or at least he hoped they were, and he had to see what had become of Bluestreak, Jazz, and Kade, before the Decepticon reached them.

"Cody, wait!" it was Starscream, pounding after him, Mirage, though wounded, close behind. "Wait! You have to help me! You're my only way out of this place alive!"

"Starscream, I'm sorry!" Cody hollered back. " I have to reach my friends before Soundwave does!"

There was a sudden explosion somewhere outside the base, and Cody faintly heard an angry roar.

He thought it sounded like Megatron.

"Please! Cody please help me!" the seeker's voice was panicked. " Please! Your friends are probably all dead, but I'm not! _Please!_ "

Cody spotted Soundwave ahead of him pause and glance straight at him before disappearing into the hall where the nursery was located.

Cody almost stopped when Soundwave looked at him like that, but he spurred himself onward.

"Cody, don't stop!" Mirage called out, having seen him stumble. "Just, don't!"

More explosions rocked the base, and Cody almost fell once more.

"Cooodyy!" Starscream's cry was cut short as Mirage leaped upon him and forced the flyer to the ground.

Cody glanced back to see Starscream reaching desperately for him, tears streaming from his wide red optics as Mirage aimed his gun between the wing joints.

Cody looked back at the nursery door, spotting what looked to be Soundwave dragging somebot, Jazz maybe? Or Bluestreak, Cody couldn't be certain, out from the nursery and rushing off down the hall.

"Go Cody!" Mirage yelled.

"But, but, Soundwave, he-" Cody stammered, trying to tell the spy that the Decepticon had captured either Bluestreak or Jazz.

"He won't hurt you! Just go!" Mirage yelled once more, as Starscream struggled mightily under the blue and white car's weight.

Blinking back tears, Cody fairly flew into the nursery as he heard the spy's gun go off at least three times, and raced over to the enclosed sparkling berths, and fearfully peered inside, after noting that Bluestreak was lying in a corner, chained and gagged.

The remaining two sparklings were… _sleeping._

Sleeping despite the other two being kidnapped, Soundwave capturing somebot, and Bluestreak being chained.

Sleeping despite the rapid sounds of laser fire echoing around the base and the multiple explosions still making it hard to stand.

Cody stared in shock at them, then at Bluestreak, struggling mightily against the chains he was bound with.

Then he looked around in desperation.

No Jazz, and no Kade, and defiantly no Soundwave, confirming what he saw before arriving.

Soundwave must have taken Jazz, since Bluestreak was still here.

Cody looked back to Bluestreak; the boy's brown eyes, already flooded with tears, spilling over as he realized the Decepticons must have taken Kade as well.

The young Autobot stared into Cody's eyes, something burning in them, like he was trying to tell the young boy something.

"Hold on, Bluestreak, you'll be loosed soon." Cody tried to sooth him through his tears, but the young bot only looked more desperate.

Still crying, Cody just stared at him, when suddenly there was a harsh clanking at the door, and it burst open.

Cody spun, and was shocked to see Starscream stumble in, Mirage clinging to his back, half of his gun arm blown clear off and one of Starscream's magnificent wings burned and blackened.

"Shhh, they're sleeping." Cody hissed tearfully at them, as the seeker choked back a sob, and almost fell, glancing towards the sparkling berths with burning optics.

Mirage had his good arm wrapped around the jet's gray throat, his hand grasping the injured wing and savagely twisting it as he used his body weight and legs that were wrapped around the Deception's waist to try and throw Starscream to the ground, making the 'con stagger badly, tears streaming down his charcoal face.

"Soundwave's doing, no doubt." Mirage grunted as the tri-colored seeker almost went down again, but somehow managed to lurch back to his feet once more.

"Mirage, they took my brother and Jazz!" Cody cried, looking up at the racecar as if the blue and white Autobot could instantly bring them back.

"I'm sorry to hear that Cody. We'll get them back, I know we will." Mirage dug his fingers into the red and white wing once more, and Starscream went to his knees at last, his mouth open in a silent scream as the Autobot peeled back the blacked wing armor, breaking cables or snapping wires every time the jet struggled to rise.

"Mirage, stop!" Cody pleaded as the seeker writhed beneath the spy, winding up flat on his front, his face pressed into the floor, before finally holding still and ceasing his own punishment.

"Cody, this is war. This jet has tortured and killed many of our number, including your ancestor Randall. He needs to pay for his crimes." Mirage stated grimly. " I hate it too, but it has to be done, or more of us will die by his command. I can't let him go."

"He didn't kill Randall!" Cody snapped, and stomped forward and tried to wrap his arms around Starscream's tear-soaked face as the seeker lifted his head to him, Mirage responding by plunging his fingers deep inside the SIC's damaged wing once more, Starscream muffling his cry of pain against Cody's body pressed up against him.

"He lied to you, Cody. That's all he does, and he would have killed you too, before the day was out, mark my words." Mirage grimaced as the cons body went ridged beneath him as his searching fingers found the wing joint.

"Stop it!" Cody begged as Starscream clawed the floor in agony, letting out desperate shrieks and whimpers.

" Cody, listen, I have to demobilize him so he won't be a threat to anyone." Mirage grunted, as he sharply tugged at the joint.

Starscream's watery red optics met Cody's streaming brown ones in a silent plea, and Cody let go of him and leaped onto his wing, making Mirage pause.

"Cody, get down." The spy commanded.

"No!" Cody yelled. " I don't care if he personally killed Kade, he does not need to be tortured like this!"

Mirage sighed. " Look, Cody, you shouldn't be watching this, but this is what happens. He's probably used to it anyway. Megatron is not kind even to his own troops. I've seen him beat Starscream nearly into scrap. This is gentle compared to what Megatron would do to him."

"It doesn't matter," Cody began, but just then a sparking wire snapped free from beneath the armor and it struck him full in the face.

Cody screamed and flew backwards from the charge, and Starscream lunged forward, cupping his shaky servos and catching the boy before he hit the floor.

Mirage tumbled off, as he had not been expecting such a motion and had been freeing his arm to catch the boy as well.

But before the jet could move any farther, the spy was straddling him once more, griping his injured wing. " Don't even try to move." Mirage warned the con. "Or I'll start pulling you apart."

Starscream whimpered and nodded, then laid his head on the floor as Cody slowly sat up, rubbing his head.

"I'm sorry." Mirage apologized, and Cody glared at him.

The Autobot winched, then Cody's expression softened, and he looked back down. "It wasn't all your fault. You didn't know the wire was going to do that." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." Starscream whimpered suddenly. " Please help me. Don't let him take me, please!"

"Shut up." Mirage snapped, sharply pinching a wing cable for emphasis.

Starscream snapped his mouth shut, but just then an angry roar shook the room, and the sparklings finally awoke, frightened and crying.

Cody scrambled to his feet and raced for the sparkling berths as they wailed, and Starscream tried to go after him, crying out in fear, his words garbled as he clawed and kicked at the floor, trying to get away.

"I told you!" Mirage yelled, and started beating the howling Deception about the wings.

Just then, something darkened the doorway to the nursery: Megatron.

"What did you do with my brother?!" Cody yelled at him as Mirage left Starscream, now frozen in terror on the floor, and stood before Cody, shielding him and the crying sparklings.

Megatron barely glanced at them before rushing inside and snatching up Starscream, who began screaming until his master glared at him fiercely and slapped him hard across the face a few times, effectively shutting him up, other then the incessant whimpering and sobbing.

"I did nothing with your brother." The warlord sneered as he turned to go, his SIC slung over his shoulder and sobbing harshly, his blue servos weakly, beseechingly, reaching towards Cody and Mirage.

"Then where is he?" Cody shrieked.

Megatron smiled evilly as he slapped Starscream's skidplate, making him yelp. "Ask Laserbeak next time you see him, little one." He snarled. " All I'm doing is taking my rightful _property_ back with me." He slapped Starscream again, even harder this time, the jet going limp and closing his dripping optics.

The massive gray mech then ran out the door and down the hall, leaving a heavy silence behind him.

Cody turned to look at Blades and Boulder, the two sparklings looking up at him, silent with terror.

"Get Bluestreak." Cody said in a flat voice as he climbed into their shared berth and snuggled up with them, their tiny servos clutching and gripping him painfully as he hugged them close, afraid to let him go.

Mirage silently walked to the chained Autobot, who, as soon as he was freed and ungagged, slapped the spy across the face as hard as he could, and began yelling.

Mirage stumbled backward, and Cody screamed, " Shut _up!_ " as both sparklings began to wail once more.

Bluestreak fumed, and glared at Mirage as Cody soothed the sparklings. " You, you, slagging idiot." He hissed. "Couldn't you see the abuse marks on him because Megatron told me what he was going to do with him, and Kade, and Jazz so you should have hid the jet as we have to get Kade back _now_ since Jazz is going to be Soundwave's mate after Megatron has some fun raping him along with Starscream, and-"

"Is everyone okay in here?" Optimus's deep voice asked, interrupting the tirade.

"No!" Bluestreak and Cody yelled at the same time, setting Blades and Boulder off again.

Mirage just looked wearily at his leader, who carried the twin sparklings, Chase and Heatwave, securely in his arms.

They too, were crying their sparks out.

"You got them back!" Cody cried joyfully, leaping up from the sparkling berths and racing to hug Optimus's thick blue leg.

"Of course I did." Prime rumbled tiredly. " I would never allow my sparklings to be in Megatron's care."

"Laserbeak took Kade, and Jazz is gone too." Cody informed his massive friend tearfully as he looked up at him.

"We'll get them back right away." Optimus promised as he moved to the sparkling berths. "Mirage, you go see Ratchet. Bluestreak, help me with the sparklings."

Mirage left, and Bluestreak gently picked up the two in the berths.

"Come, Cody. Once the injured are repaired, I have called a meeting in the rec room with everyone." Prime said, and strode out of the nursery, Bluestreak and Cody following at his heels. "I think everyone deserves an explanation."


	14. Chapter 14

Flashback To Optimus's Past Part 7

 **AN: I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm kinda getting bored with Randall and O.P's back history; I'm ready to stick with the present, so I'm gonna be writing only important snapshots and brief summaries that pertain directly to the present and future parts of this fic. I was going to expound many chapters upon Randall's close relationship with Prime, Soundwave, Starscream, Jazz, Hound, Bumblebee, Prowl, Springer, and Mirage, but, I'll just breeze through the rest of their past life. That okay with the rest of you? Please, let me know your thoughts! Thanks! ~A**

 **PS Looooooong chapter alert!** **;) :P :D**

Randall cracked his joints as he sent another wave of comfort and ghosted telepathic touch on a trembling wingtip as Starscream's umpteenth whimper floated through his mind, then touched back on Soundwave's deep, comforting presence in his subconscious, drawing strength from it to fuel his exhausted mind.

The now 36 year old was actually sleeping in his own, little-used room tonight, as he did every night after Starscream came out of heat.

So much had happened in the decade and a half since the day he'd had to blow his cover and lead a rescue party into the Decepticon base.

Prime had 'punished' him by giving him to select bots for training, saying Randall must have had too much time on his hands if he was able to sneak on and off the enemy base so often, and to forbid him to be apart from either Mirage (and consequently, Hound too) or Jazz (thought _that_ eventually backfired, if he was meant to stay away from Decepticons; Jazz and Randall could be _such_ a riot together) at any time, which was closer to a punishment then his training.

For the most part, before breakfast, he would walk over to Prime's quarters (unless he was sleeping there) and visit with his BFF for a while, talking over things, planning out future events, ect, then head off to eat.

After a quick and energizing breakfast (energizing being the key here) he'd give himself his injection, then nip over the tactics room, joining Prowl as they brainstormed over the next likely move of the Decepticons, filed away and analyzed data from the patrols, and tease him over his spark-rending indecision over which bot he desired more, Sunstreaker or Bumblebee.

The SIC had a thing for yellow bots, and Randall forever joked that if he finished his Autobot changeover, he sure was glad it wasn't yellow, or he'd mess up Prowl's choices again!

Prowl was not amused.

Randall was an important part of Prowl's team now, and not just for the binding link they now shared; his quick thinking and knowledge of their enemy was invaluable, no matter how often certain mechs viewed him with suspicion concerning his loyalties, not naming anybot, _Cliffjumper_ and _Tracks_!

Once he had served his purpose there, Randall would hurry off to snag something else to re-fuel his systems, then meet up with Ironhide and his team to choose the next day's round of patrols (which ultimately had to be approved by Prowl as well), to go over the security measures and insure they were not lacking (giving Randall the info he needed for quick getaways when he needed them), and to do a weapons check and practice before lunch.

After that, Randall headed into Ratchet's domain, for an afternoon of medical records keeping, daily checkups, and any other medical procedure that might come up while he was on duty.

It was here Randall did much of his research into the two pet projects that, literally, now ruled his life, link binding and the age-stopping formula.

More on that later.

Once late afternoon or evening hit, depending on how busy it had been that day, Randall would grab a snack and find Jazz.

And Jazz made him find him, everyday.

If he couldn't find the spy, Randall failed.

If he found him, they could train.

Sometimes Randall found him, sometimes he didn't, but it was all part of the Special Operations training he went through, as an uneasy part of the saboteur's team.

It wasn't that the overall team didn't like him, far from it, most of his best friends came from this team; it was the fact he had that _link_ with both Starscream and Soundwave that made them all on edge, and made things difficult for Randall.

They had finally reached a truce: when either con was in the area they intended to sabotage, infiltrate or even just as part of a rescue mission, Randall would stay behind.

Not only was it because he could not bring himself to harm the two of them, or compromise their safety, it was because they always knew where he was, and if he was near, they would find an excuse come to him.

Jazz tried to convince him to be a decoy once, and it nearly was the total undoing of their at-first troubled friendship.

Neither the Porsche nor the then-teenager really liked or trusted one another for the longest of times, but when Jazz was elected to help Mirage keep an eye on the now-young man, they suddenly became best friends.

Turns out, Jazz was as much a bad boy as Randall, and the two of them were forever working in the background, manipulating unsuspecting cons and bots into their plans, and then enjoying the results, including the ones involving bots and girls who fell in love with them in their respective species.

Both took joy in being single and being wanted, and both took joy in sneaking off and never being found out, and holding secret deals that sometimes went on right under Prowl and Prime's noses and didn't even know about it, though with Randall's links to both, it took a lot of skill to remain undetected, a challenge both enjoyed immensely.

And both lived for music, something that both Randall and Jazz thought Blaster would get along well with Randall for, but, due the human's relationship with Soundwave, Blaster had as little to do with Randall as he could, and vice versa.

Once he was done with the Special Ops team, he would run over to the Research labs, after grabbing something to eat, then spend the rest of the evening with Wheeljack and his inventions and studies.

Of course, Randall _did_ get out and about a lot as well, not counting battles and missions, squeezing in some time to fly with Springer or Skyfire, race to town to pick up supplies with Bumblebee or Jazz, or relax in the rec room, playing games against whoever happened to be there, or just read a book.

And then, after the long and exhausting day, Randall would have to crash into recharge, quite literally.

His pet project insured him of that much, except on certain days when he knew one of his bonded links would need him to be alone that night.

Such as this night, the night after Starscream went out of those troubling periods all seekers went through periodically when overcome by a desire to mate.

Skywarp was an exception; that jet _always_ appeared to be in heat, much to his trine's chagrin.

About Randall's projects… something he, and all the rest of the team, thought he'd never achieve, but here he was, part machine and part human, link bonded to six Cybertronians, through telepathic and symbiotic links, as well as a tight bond from his consciousness to theirs, and not even aging, due to his anti-aging formula.

It had taken him several years to complete to the testing stage; he'd had plenty of time, what with Prime having stopped time itself so his sparkling could form in peace.

Of course, Megatron had ruined the idea of peace, somehow breaking free of the time stop and forcing the Autobots to be busier then ever to ensure he didn't wreck the whole universe while nothing could age.

So Randall toiled away, taking days and weeks and months to pour through data on links, bonds, and symbiot connections, and to use Ratchet's tools and many, many stolen hospital equipment to infuse his body with parts of an Autobot body of his own.

Wheeljack had helped him, and the result was that Randall was half human and half Autobot; designed after a black seeker, of course.

He didn't have any wings (He figured it would be too hard to hide those while out and about with other humans) but the little bit of armor he did have was black, sleek, and shiny, and he had the mental security of a seeker, making it harder for his system files to be hacked, and he had the thrusters in his heels, enabling him with some flight power.

He looked mostly human on the outside, only notable difference was if he took his hat off to expose the retractable black plating, his flashing eyes when emotion ran high, and one whole arm that was nothing but pure simple Cybertronian tech, retractable claws and all.

He was mainly changed on the internals, but he still could not ingest energon, and so had to rely on frequent, high-energy meals to keep his systems running smoothly.

When he thought he was ready to try a temporary bond, he and Wheeljack were choosing which lucky-or unlucky- bot would be the test subject, when both twins burst in at once, obviously trying to scare the two of them into jumping, which they did.

Wheeljack accidentally knocked the fully charged sparking chamber, infused with their test matter dancing with bluish energy, and it careened right into Randall's retracted armor plating along his wrist and fingers, burning into the exposed hydraulics, wiring, and cables.

With a splitting yell, Randall was magnetized smack into Wheeljack's chest, his charged fingers slipping through a gap in his armor around the bot's neck and curling reflectively around the pulsing wires there.

With another yell, both plunged into stasis, bodies, twisting and sparking erratically as Randall's sensory wires in his head went haywire, flicking random signals all over the room.

The twins had hyper-speeded off to fetch Ratchet, who was pretty grim as he examined their smoking forms, welded together by Randall's fingers in Wheeljack's neck.

He carefully brought them both out of stasis lock, and then pried them apart.

Randall's sensory wires bent towards Wheeljack and the teen groaned.

"Let's hope it's temporary, 'Jack, or you're with me perm."

Both stumbled around all day, trying to counteract the mental bombardment of each other's thoughts and emotions, and all anyone had to do all day to find Wheeljack as look at Randall's wires he had not yet retracted: they always pointed towards the engineer.

Days passed, and they fought to stay apart, but it was obvious they were losing strength and energy the longer they stayed apart.

Whenever they did meet, they'd cling momentarily to each other, seeming to gain strength from contact, and go their ways again.

Ratchet monitored them, and noticed with dread that the effect did not go away with time, but rather strengthened.

When they were together, their pulses began stabilizing, and synchronizing, and the longer they held physical contact, the smoother they ran, and the better they felt.

They had learned how to block the other from constant overload of the other's mind, but that took energy to keep up, and that meant more fuel for Wheeljack and more food for Randall.

Finally, Ratchet and Blaster told them they needed to spend at least one night a week with the other, synchronize their systems, and maybe the result would be a lot less… messy.

So that night, Randall snuggled up to Wheeljack, his fingers locking into the bot's neck of their own accord, and this time the charge was pleasant to both.

When they awake the next morning, they both felt calm, refreshed, and normal, well, as normal as they could be, sensing the other's position and emotions at all times, and thoughts too if they weren't careful.

And, it took less energy to operate when they were synced together.

Randall tweaked the tech a bit, and succeeded in being able to 'feel' what the other was feeling, as in physical, and send 'touch' so as to seem as if he were there.

Wheeljack was his first link bond, and they recharged together every night after that, until he linked with the next bot: Optimus Prime, to be exact.

Randall was getting tired of having Mirage, often followed by Hound, and sometimes Jazz, with whom at that point he wasn't getting along with very well, and since Wheeljack and he knew of each other's general location, and, unless hidden, their thoughts and emotions, he proposed link bonding with Prime to be rid of his babysitters.

Prime agreed, and Randall super-charged his system and slipped his fingers in around the pulsing neck cables and wires.

They stayed that way all night, peacefully synchronizing in recharge, and when they awoke, they could feel each other.

Prime's mind had offered him such exciting dreams, echoes of memories from the great leader's past, some good, and some painful.

Randall saw that Ironhide was not only Optimus's father, but also his best friend.

Whenever possible, the red mech took his son everywhere with him, on his bridge engineering job.

Ratchet had actually been the stern one of the household, often scolding both Ironhide and Optronix, which was then Prime's name, for one misadventure or the other.

Then came the day Ratchet was sparked once more, causing great joy in the household.

Once the sparkling was born, Optronix loved playing with his little brother, and spent much of his time at home, tightly bonding with the tiny bluish mech.

But shortly after the sparkling became a youngling, he was stolen, and no one had ever found him again.

It was all Randall could do not to reveal to Prime that his gentle, thoughtful, quiet little brother who had looked up to him so much was Soundwave, TIC of the Decepticon forces, and missed him and the life of peace very much.

Then had come the doomed relationship with Megatron.

It seemed that while the giant mech had still been a Prime, he had gotten wind of what Optronix had in store for his future, and subsequently set to work from when the little red white and blue sparkling was born right up through his adult years to be his best friend, and ultimately his mate.

Optronix suited Megatron well when they started courting.

He was pretty submissive to the larger mech, and loved him very much.

Megatron had forbidden Optronix from giving any hint to his creators that he was courting, so that his plan of becoming ruler of all Cybertron, and indeed the whole universe, with Optronix at his side, would not be disturbed.

He knew that Ratchet and Ironhide would question him, and search out every thing he did; it was normal, for creators, to ensure their offspring were bonding with the right mech.

Megatron also loved the younger fiercely, and perhaps that was their undoing, because even though he was a bloodthirsty gladiator and dictator, he wished no harm to come upon the innocent, insecure Optronix, who trusted him explicitly.

Randall was aware that he was somehow reading Megatron's feelings and memories, and that Optimus had no idea of what all the young man was discovering, and it made him uncomfortable, so he tried to fast forward through this phase of the leader's life.

What he did see, though, made him worried.

It appeared that Megatron had tried to bond with Optronix shortly after he 'accidentally' sparked the younger, but for some reason a little bit of distrust had crept into the store clerk's spark, and he held back after only partially bonding with him.

Megatron was desperate to finish bonding with him, and so he did a very rash thing: he took his beloved to see a special gladiator fight just for him.

Gentle, kindhearted Optronix was so horrified by the display, he fled the city rather then face his lover's wrath and disappointment- not to mention he would never bond with such a mech as this, and he knew Megatron would be sparkbroken to hear that.

For the next hundred years, while he carried Megatron's twins, he had to flee for his life as Megatron erupted with pain and rage, and began his conquest to power, and then the poor mech had to birth all on his own.

The excruciating pain Optronix went through as he birthed was almost enough to sever the connection between Randall and the mech, but grimly he held on.

He had been there, of course, when Soundwave birthed, but never before had he felt the pain this intense.

Then, Optronix ran harder, and faster.

He gave the twin sparklings into two different homes, far from each other, and then took up a job as a records clerk in some nowhere town, under a new name of Orion Pax.

Then, Sentinel Prime was killed, and the spark-sick Optronix was called up to receive the Matrix of Leadership, and renamed Optimus Prime.

The first thing the new Prime did was to order evacuation of Cybertron, not wanting to run into his almost-mate, but when he had to face Megatron in the battle that followed, he realized he had to save his home planet, and put his feelings behind him.

The two have been fighting ever since, but neither can bring themselves to kill the other, the love, though buried deep in their processors, still burning brightly.

Randall woke up after that, more confused about the Great War then ever before, but kept what he had discovered hidden inside himself, and assured Prime that he would never reveal his secrets.

Now Randall had to synch with two mechs, and that came with it's own special set of problems: Prime's and Wheeljack's systems were at a different frequency then each other's and when Randall was humming along at Prime's speed, Wheeljack got all cranky.

And when Randall re-synched with 'Jack, Prime got all grouchy.

It took a lot of time before Randall got himself balanced out between the two of them, which was exhausting work, but it had to be done.

After many recharges, all three were running at the same pulse rate, and it was a relief to the whole base to at last have them content and at peace.

It was then that Randall finally broke away to visit his old pal Soundwave, and to check in on Screamer.

He had felt the telepath calling to him the last several battles, and he knew he needed to go to him, or else he may just be kidnapped again.

To his surprise, and relief, Soundwave was barely a jog away from the base, waiting on him.

Without any preliminaries, Soundwave grabbed his Autobot arm, and shoved the fingers into his own neck, the suddenness of it making sparks connect the two.

That was how Prime, Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, and Wheeljack found them later, linked together on the ground, this link bonding even more smooth then Prime's, though filled with an equal amount of painful memories.

One of the more interesting ones surrounded his forced bonding with Megatron, and the fact that the two of them were actually friends, good friends.

It seemed that Megatron was not intending on force bonding with the blue mech at all, but had him open his chest cavity and was fondling the exposed spark to remind his TIC of the power he had to kill him or let him live, when Skywarp had burst in.

He had slammed into Megatron from behind, scrabbling uselessly at his back to try to regain his balance, and Megatron had accidentally ripped the spark from Soundwave-almost.

Megatron had done the only thing he could think of to save his friend: bond his own spark to him.

Soundwave had been grateful to Megatron for having saved his life, but they were both miserable connected together, and the only way for them to separate would be for Soundwave to link his damaged spark with someone else.

That someone was to be Jazz, no surprise to Randall.

He did not want to see what happened to Skywarp, and Soundwave obligingly hid that file from him.

Prime had nearly lost it when the group found them, and who knew what would have happened to Soundwave if Randall had not cried out in pain as Jazz and Wheeljack pounced on the silent blue mech.

"Randall, symbiot of Soundwave now." The con TIC informed them in his usual monotone, but Randall detected smugness now. "Connected to Autobots and Decepticons."

Wheeljack snarled, and Randall tried to calm both him and Prime with soothing waves of reassurance through their link.

"Jazz, you will accompany Randall on all his synching trips to Soundwave. We will build a shelter nearby to accomplish this. I will not have my boy going into the Decepticon base every few days, and I won't have you here." He addressed Soundwave sternly.

"As you wish." Soundwave bowed his head and then took flight, disappearing into the dawn as the others stood around Randall, trying to decide between glaring at him or the ground.

"I felt you bond, and that you were out of the base." Wheeljack told Randall, scooping him up to cradle him against his chassis. " I ran into Prime on my way out. He already had gotten the others."

"What were ya thinkin'?!" Jazz scolded him, hands on hips. " He coulda hurt ya!"

Randall chuckled. " Soundwave would never hurt me, not like what you're thinking, anyway. Sure, we keep up pretense during battle, but, we're not the only ones."

Randall felt Optimus stiffen internally, but despite the curious looks he was getting from the others, he spoke not of Prime and Megatron's messed up love affair, nor of Soundwave's unflagging love for Jazz or Skyfire's and Starscream's tentative relationship (which Randall planned on working on, as soon as he could bond with the commanding seeker and have an excuse to spend time with him), and _defiantly_ not that Soundwave was Prime's long lost little brother.

Prime and Wheeljack could feel he was hiding something, but they were helpless to discover it, as unlike Randall, they did not just get empowered with telepathic usage.

Randall had kept it to himself that there was another side affect to these links: they gave him access to the specific abilities of whomever he bonded with.

 _Promises made, promises kept_ he sent out to Wheeljack and Prime, one of whom relaxed and the other internally groaned.

As promised, Optimus had a shelter built a safe distance from the Autobot base, but close enough to defend in the event of an attack.

Randall took an every-other-day method to synch with the three mechs, and it worked out well for them all.

It was during this period that Jazz and he became the best of friends, and Jazz integrated him fully into his team.

Even though he hadn't bonded with the saboteur, despite the constant pestering about if and when he was going to do it from his good buddy Hound, who made it no secret he wanted to be the next lucky mech to bond with Randall, he and Jazz shared many close secrets with one another.

Randall learned that Jazz had had a hard life in his younger years, like Randall himself had had.

As a sparkling and youngling, the Porsche had been abused and starved, with a father that was drunk all the time and a mother who died after her third sparkling.

Jazz was the oldest, and he tried to support his two younger siblings, but they slowly died, from disease and starvation.

When Jazz was the only one left, his father sold him into slavery, where the youngling was often beaten and left to fend for himself.

Once his interface protocols came online, he was sold again, this time into interface slavery.

His chassis was remodeled and rebuilt time and time again, until he became the ultimate pleasure bot.

It was many, many years later until the mechling finally escaped, and started life on his own.

He used his learned skills and developed a reputation of the best assassin and saboteur on the planet.

He used the income from this job, and the smuggling he did on the side, to run his own nightspot, until the day the Great War started.

Jazz sold his club, and joined the Autobots as a spy, saboteur, and assassin.

"The funny thing is," Jazz had commented, after Randall had told him he was the ninja of the team, to give him a human label, " is that Prowl, my best friend beside you, possesses the same skills I have in the gymnastics area, yet almost never uses them, preferring to sit around at his stuffy desk and work with numbers. "

Randall laughed.

"But the real strange thing is, Soundwave." Jazz said seriously. "We knew each other before the war. He came to my nightclub all the time, though he never really did much. I have to admit, I was disappointed he chose the Decepticon side. I was wanting to get to know him better."

Randall's ears perked up; this was interesting news.

He already knew of Soundwave's love for Jazz, but to hear of Jazz talk of Soundwave, well that was different.

He had promised the stoic blue mech to help him win Jazz over, but the opportunities were slim to none.

Now, he may have something to work with.

"Do you think Soundwave ever thinks of you at all? I mean, now?" Randall asked carefully.

Jazz snorted. "You tell me, you're bonded with him."

Randall hoped he was doing the right thing.

"Yes, he thinks about you. He thinks about you a lot."

They had never talked about Soundwave since, but ever since then, Jazz suddenly was being cornered by the blue mech in the midst of battle, and while Randall tried to keep fire power off that area, he had observed Soundwave slowly winning Jazz over.

He would get Jazz trapped, and move in on him, normally having to hold his wrists with one hand while gently petting Jazz with the other; it only took a little under one year for the assassin to stand still and grudgingly allow the telepath to pet him.

He always brought him treats, and would try to feed him, taking eight looong years for Jazz to finally open his mouth and let Soundwave feed him a treat.

And that was only because of the two years of presents Soundwave started leaving for Jazz every morning.

Poor Jazz did not know what to do with himself, as the whole base had gotten into the see-what-gift-Jazz's-secret-lover-left-him-now game once they discovered the every morning ritual.

Before long, all the bots would be hovering around the entrance, waiting on Jazz to come and get his present so they all could see it.

Jazz had asked Randall time and time again who it was, but Randall refused to tell him.

Jazz finally caught Soundwave in the act, and though Randall did not know what was said, the next day there was no gift, and the very next battle Jazz let Soundwave feed him the treats.

It was during this battle that Randall had accidentally link bonded with Prowl.

The young man had been so happy that Jazz seemed to be finally warming up to Soundwave, that he had not seen Skywarp sneaking up on him.

Prowl had seen, however, and had leaped upon Randall and rolled aside with him clutched tightly to his chest at the same moment the purple and black seeker had fired at them.

The shot did not hit them, but scorched the ground nearby, the vibrations and heat from the explosion resulting in Prowl curling protectively around Randall, and that was when it happened.

The teeny gap that had opened in the neck plating when the ninja rolled was all that was needed for the linking program to start up, and Randall's uplink fingers had a death grip on the tactician's neck cables in a sparkbeat.

They stared in horror at each other before blacking out right there on the battlefield.

Soundwave, Prime, and Wheeljack all jerked as they felt it, and began a desperate race to get back to Randall before something happened to him.

Starscream, who had been watching for just such an opportunity, beat them to it.

Screeching with fiendish delight, he swooped in and tore off with both Prowl and Randall, set on bonding with the boy as soon as he awoke from Prowl.

He did not see Skyfire crouching behind the very hill he was heading for, and when the huge white mech leaped out at him, he had froze in his tracks.

Skyfire captured Starscream, and carried all of them back to the base on Optimus's order.

He chained Starscream in his own quarters, and laid the bonding pair on Prowl's bed, then went to talk with his old friend.

When Randall awoke, he immediately went in search of Starscream, figuring this was the best opportunity to bond with the Decepticon SIC.

He stored the perfectly ordinary info about Prowl away to be thought more over later, other then to shake his head over the fact he was Ratchet's nephew and that Bluestreak was Prowl's youngest (and only surviving) brother.

The family ties in this place, it was amazing.

Skyfire was cradling the sleeping seeker when Randall entered, and he saw that Starscream had been crying.

There were tears in the large shuttle's optics also, and Randall silently moved over and hugged the mech's legs.

Then Randall settled in to wait until the jet awoke, and then bonded with him, making the other links he had face palm in despair, except for Soundwave; he knew it was going to happen, just like the others, but unlike the others, he approved.

Once Randall had link bonded with the air commander, he was privy to all thoughts and emotions of the flyer, which revealed many troubling secrets, one of which was the SIC had a love/hate relationship with Megatron, to Randall's shock and disbelief.

Starscream hated it too, but seemed powerless to change it, other then for Skyfire, who Randall had taken many long years to get the two of them back together, and it seemed to help a little with the seeker's desire, but during his heat, everything went out the window, even Skyfire and Randall himself, in the jet's relentless quest for Megatron's affection.

To his frustration, when Starscream was in heat, that was the _only_ time Megatron did not drag his SIC off to his berth for forced interface.

No, that was when he ignored the seeker the most, not even spanking him, just silently beating him and leaving him.

Megatron had discovered that spanking the jet was more productive then beating him, as he did not need repaired after this punishment, and Starscream often would be aroused while being punished in such a way, giving Megatron even more control over the rebellious seeker.

Sometimes Megatron would let Starscream overload, other times he would torment him by not allowing him to do so, bringing him to the point of overload and then restraining him and letting him lie there in agony.

But the day after his heat, that was the day Starscream unfailingly would try to run away, and every time he was re-captured and dragged back to Megatron's side- or under him, as the case may be.

The day-after rapings were always the worst, and Randall had to seclude himself and lock down his links to the other bots, so as to keep the emotion and pain from leaking to them.

Soundwave, however, he kept open, as he needed more strength to deal with the abused seeker's emotions then he had in his own body, and he could always count on the large blue mech for support.

That, and the rape was a secret only Soundwave knew about besides the two involved and Randall.

Starscream would lose all respect his seekers paid him if they knew a grounder was forcibly inserting himself into their leader.

Seekers had a reputation for being a stuck-up race; they had little to do with grounders, and even if you could fly, if you weren't a Seeker, you were little more then slag.

Interfacing was an even more sensitive subject to these proud flyers.

They were the only Cybertronians who had special ceremonies when a youngling became a mechling that Randall knew of.

Starscream and his trine, of course, had no clue of any of these important rituals, nor of the ceremonies surrounding becoming a trine.

Megatron just declared it to be so, and it was as he said.

Many seekers claim that is why Skywarp is never out of heat, and that is why Thundercracker never seems much affected by his, and that is why as a trine, the three are not well-bonded; the proper rites were never followed.

So when he could, Starscream tried his hardest to undermine his abuser, and to take him down, the dream of being leader and Megatron serving _him_ the only real thing that kept the jet going all the millennia he had.

Randall had lectured him time and time again to cease from the scream fests he got into with Megatron daily, but to no avail.

The seeker was endowed with an awesome temper, and he wasn't afraid to use it, even against those he held dear.

Starscream and Megatron fought and quarreled over every little thing, even arguing the weather for flying.

Starscream torqued everyone off, even Randall, and had an annoying habit of planting himself right in someone's face, even though he himself hated anyone being that close to him for any reason except to provide him with comfort.

Starscream had been forbidden long ago not to have any relationships, including any friends, on pain of said friends being tortured to death before him, and that included his trine.

So he was vindictive to his own wing brothers, causing first confusion, then misery, then hate.

The two seekers would never kill him, but boy did they ever hate him.

Once in a while, Starscream would slip up and show care for one of them, but Megatron was a good as his word and would beat whoever he showed care for, except in the case of Skyfire.

For reasons no one really knew, he was supportive of the friendship between them, even after Skyfire joined the Autobots.

Randall suspected it was because it made Starscream even easier to control when Megatron used Skyfire to tease him with.

Starscream had spilled to Randall what all happened to him as a sparkling, youngling, and mechling, and Randall could not help but feel sorry for the poor young seeker.

Megatron had stolen him and the other two seekers as sparklings, later, Starscream discovered that they were meant to replace the sparklings that Optimus had hidden from him, and Starscream was supposed to replace Optimus in Megatron's spark.

Megatron had starved and abused Starscream as a sparkling, then he did a 360, pampered, and spoiled him all through his school years, until his interface protocols came online.

Megatron had begun seducing him right away, and before long the inexperienced young seeker was madly in love with his former abuser, and they interfaced every night.

Megatron was gentle and kind, not hurting the more fragile flyer, but slowly building on the desires to be bonded with him.

Finally, one night, Megatron had taken Starscream into his berthroom and eagerly told him of how much he had hoped for Starscream to take the place of his old lover in his spark, and wished to bond with him now.

Starscream innocently told him that he did not wish to bond yet, he wanted to be more experienced before he chose his mate, and as unprepared for how Megatron had exploded on him.

Megatron had screamed something about how he was always betrayed and then viciously whipped and then raped Starscream, snarling that he was going to have the seeker as his, whether he wanted it or not.

Starscream never knew something could hurt like that before, and had screamed louder then he had in years.

His spark shattered when Megatron, whom he had slowly gotten to trust in his youngling years, told him who useless and what a waste he was, so weak and pitiful.

Then he told him that he would never escape, and that he would be his forever.

Starscream had run away the next day, but the marks showed: he had been completely broke by Megatron, and if it had not been for Skyfire rescuing him, who knows what would have happened to him.

The large shuttle had listened to the smaller seeker's tale of woe, and taken him with him on his exploring trips.

Skyfire got him into the same university that he himself had went too, and although Starscream was by now a very bitter and distrustful mechling, even lying abut his age, he somehow managed to graduate with the highest honors.

Skyfire and he were inseparatable for many years after that, until they were abruptly parted by a huge storm on Earth.

Starscream searched and searched for his only friend, and at last had to return to Cybertron, sparkbroken once more, only to be captured by a gleeful Megatron and he had been forced to remain with the tyrant from then on, living a never ending cycle of being beaten and raped by him nearly every day of his life since.

What really hurt was the fact the seeker was still in love with his tormentor, though he squashed it often enough, it still came out once in a while, and he would attempt to make up to Megatron, only to be crushed once more.

It was the only thing that kept him as a Decepticon, his love for the warlord.

Starscream was intensely jealous of Optimus Prime, and afraid of him, jealous because the semi was the one Megatron was pining for, and not him, and afraid, because he did not know how the Prime would treat him for what he had done to the hundreds of Autobots he himself had tortured and killed.

Now that he had Randall, he had a secret friend who could help make his life less miserable.

Throughout the rest of the hundred years that Prime had to carry Smokescreen, Randall had a foot in both camps, so to speak.

He directed the battles from a hidden location nearby, keeping a sharp optic on Prime, as he was part of the leader's personal bodyguard.

Springer was his newest bond, and was actually planned.

The green helicopter had become good buddies with Randall, and on Arcee's request, the two of them bonded, with Optimus Prime's support this time.

Randall was relived to finally have a 'normal' bond, and he and Springer spent a lot of time together when the 'copter was around the Ark.

Arcee teased Randall by saying when she and Springer had their first sparkling, they were going to name it Randall.

Randall reprocaited in kind by declaring he'd name his pet slug Arcee, sparking a good-natured fight between them all, Springer feeling compelled to come to his sparkmate's aid.

Today, however, Springer and Arcee were far, far away somewhere in space with Blur, Cub, Wheelie, Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, the Dinobots, and SkyLynx, following Galvatron's forces while Optimus Prime and the others fought with Megatron on Earth.

Evidently, Megatron had a younger brother, and once said younger brother had gotten old enough to fight, he formed his own branch of the Decepticons and challenged Megatron for leadership.

Galvatron was even more cruel and bloodthirsty then Megatron, and the only reason he failed to take over was because the Autobots and Decepticons united to fight him and his armies off.

So the angry 'con haunted deep space, forever planning his revenge and making sudden attacks on Earth and Cybertron, as well as any living being he found he decided should die.

Rumor had it, and since the rumor came on good grounds, everyone believed it, that Galvatron was Megatron's one weakness, and that he had pampered and spoiled the young purple mechling with everything he wanted, except one thing: to go to war.

Galvatron was awed by his older and far bigger brother's stories of the battles he had been in, and wanted more then anything to fight by his side- but Megatron would never let him.

"You're too small." He'd say. "Too young." Ignoring the fact that he had forced Starscream into war-and he was barely older then Galvatron!

Finally, one day, Galvatron ran away, together with his best and most loyal friend, Cyclonus.

Cyclonus was his SIC, and was the adopted brother to Ultra Magnus, which Randall found fascinating.

Actually, he found Cyclonics fascinating period, and would have loved to have more to do with him, but he could never get near the violent mech, and so had to rely on second-hand info on him.

He had begged and begged to go along on this trip, but as that would mean being separated from all his link bonds but Springer, no one would risk it.

So he was left behind on Earth, to dream of someday meeting Galvatron's SIC in person.

Cyclonus was an untrined seeker, not because he was unmatchable to any other seeker, but because there _were_ no other seekers to be trined with.

The Great War had meant no seekers mated, and that meant no sparklings.

No one knew who had sparked and carried the tall, dark, horned Seeker, but everyone knew he had been adopted by Ultra Magnus's creators when they found him lost and alone in the street, and had raised him to be kind and good.

Then Galvatron had seen him when Megatron took him on a trip through that part of Cybertron, and had wanted him for a playmate.

Megatron marched in, snatched the young mechling Cyclonus, and took him to live with the Decepticons.

Cyclonus fell in love with the purple mech from hell, as everyone called Galvatron behind Megatron's back.

He cared for him in everyway he possibly could, turning a blind eye to his faults and loving the mech he knew was underneath all that bluster.

The horned seeker was a born leader, and with his loneliness at not being trined, he sought and found a species of fliers called Sweeps.

Tenderly he raised the younger ones and trained them all, until they were fit for battle.

Sweeps lived in groups of four, not three, like seekers, and they all looked alike to one not used to being among them, but Cyclonus knew each and every one by name.

Galvatron formed his own army out of Cyclonus and the Sweeps, and took in any disgruntled Decepticons that were fed up with Megaton and used them also.

Galvatron was more successful then Megatron since he had no sense of kindness in him save towards Cyclonus, whom he loved fiercely.

But because of that, he was also more cruel, and all the cons who chose to side with him found themselves missing Megatron deeply, but the angry gray warlord would not take them back on pain of death, and so they had to suffer at Galvatron's brutal hands instead, though some chose death by Megatron instead of abuse by Galvatron.

But none of that was on Randall's mind as he dragged himself out of bed and for the kitchen to get his energon-infused coffee.

He had discovered that he could now ingest a few drops of energon at a time, and so he had added it to his morning coffee, making it even more charging.

Perceptor and himself had worked on an energon drink that would resemble coffee for the Autobots, and when it worked, Prowl wound up addicted to it and could be often be found with steaming cup of coffegon in his white servos.

Randall needed it too, even more so when one of his bonds were unable to synch with him, like Springer was now.

So it was no surprise when he finally stumbled into the kitchen to find Prowl already there, talking quietly with Jazz, who tended to like his morning cup as well, nor were they surprised to see Randall, and just sent him a worried glance as he struggled to his coffegon station, which was set to his lower height then for the bots.

He had his own whole smaller kitchen area next to the bot's cupboards since he was so much smaller then they.

Randall's hands shook as he tried to punch in the buttons to start the machine, and Jazz clicked his tongue.

"Lemme get that for ya, lil' buddy." Jazz bent down and delicately used his finger tips to operate the smaller machine, and to slide in the, for him, tiny coffee cup.

"Thanks pal." Randall sank onto the cupboard; Starscream's pain increasing as Megatron fully woke up and seemed to want another go with the smaller seeker, which he did occasionally.

Randall found himself being lifted in strong white servos as a concerned Prowl brought him up to the bot's counter top and set him down against Jazz's warm cup.

"Is being separated from Springer really getting you this time?" Jazz inquired as he handed Randall his cup gingerly.

Randall sipped gratefully at the steaming liquid, trying to hide the winch as Megatron thrust his larger, ridged spike deep into the seeker's smaller, abused and tender port.

He choked and nearly spat it all out when Starscream's emotions suddenly exploded, and Randall suspected Megatron was saying things that really hurt the winged mech.

"Did I do it wrong?" Jazz hovered over him, visor glowing bright with alarm.

"N-no, it's fine, really good." Randall managed, and took another gulp.

"Why don't you unlock your link with me?" Prowl asked after he and Jazz silently watched Randall try to compose himself, drawing deeply in Soundwave's presence in order to cope.

"I told you, this one night every so often I cannot do so." Randall reminded him.

"But it is no longer morning." Prowl pointed out.

Randall busied himself with taking another drink.

It really was helping, this coffegon.

He was glad he and the red scientist had made it.

"Well?" Prowl pressed.

Jazz just watched, visor flickering as he considered Randall.

"I am not the only one wondering. Prime came to me moments before you arrived, asking about you." Prowl said. "And Wheeljack as well. They're worried about you too."

Randall met the ice-blue optics with his earthy brown eyes. "I can't-not yet." He responded huskily.

Prowl's optics pierced his heart, and Randall looked away, straight into Jazz's glowing visor.

Jazz gently laid a black servo on his shoulder. "It's okay, Randy." He spoke softly. "He'll be okay."

Randall looked sharply at Jazz.

Jazz just smiled mysteriously.

Prowl glanced from bot to man, frowning slightly.

Just then Prime himself came in, followed by Wheeljack.

"There you all are!" Optimus exclaimed in evident relief. " We still can't feel you Randall, and we were starting to worry."

"He'll re-line when he can." Jazz said firmly. "Ya'll can just scoot on out of here and leave him be, mkay?"

The other bots gave Jazz strange looks, but they all, including Prowl, left.

Once they were gone, Jazz turned back to Randall, looking very serious.

"Randall, I know what is happening right now with Screamer. I've seen it. I suspect your link is still open with 'Wave, but it's not enough."

Jazz hopped up and laid belly-down on the counter-top, facing Randall.

The spy bent his head, and slid back some of the panels on his neck, exposing the cables.

Randall's fingers started to twitch.

Jazz took his cyber-arm and brought it up to his neck.

"Do you want this, Randall?" he asked quietly.

Randall just nodded, too exhausted to resist.

Jazz connected Randall's finger with his neck cables, and they both went limp.

In the swirling maze of Jazz's memories, which passed by him in a colorful blur since he already knew many of them, Randall found a strong pulse of strength which he clung to, the bonding being completed in a matter of seconds and both onlining as all the bots who just left burst back into the room.

"Jazz!" Prime exclaimed.

Jazz just grinned at them all while Randall curled up against his chest, clinging to Jazz's warmth and Soundwave's mind, desperately fighting what had to be the worst rape of Starscream's life.

One of Jazz's black servos were rubbing gently up and down Randall's back, and he played a soft, soothing melody on his speakers.

With a jerk of his head, Jazz sent the others out, and the two of them remained on the counter top all morning long.

Later in the day, disaster struck.

Starscream, seemingly with for no reason to the other Autobots save Jazz and Randall, suddenly went berserk, and was on a rampage of death and destruction on the planet.

He was acting very unpredictably, and not even the Decepticon forces were being able to keep up with him.

Megatron arrived at the Ark, alone, and weaponless, swallowing his pride and asking the Autobots for help in reigning in his insane SIC.

The Prime quickly joined the Decepticons in the desperate race to stop Starscream before he destroyed the entire planet.

Randall expected to go along, after all, he had a bond with the tri-colored jet.

However, Prime refused, and he and Randall got into the worst fight they had ever been in, and the man even threatened his leader at gun-point.

Jazz gently removed Randall, knowing that the crazy jet's emotions were affecting Randall in some way, and poured as much comfort and strength into his new bond as he could.

Randall managed to clear his head, and he sullenly accepted that he was not going, but earnestly pleaded with Prime not to go to a certain valley.

Optimus, who was all messed up with having to work with his almost-mate, and with having the fight with Randall, snapped back that he'll fight where he wants, and that valley was the best place to capture the Seeker.

Another fight broke out, and they parted with both livid with the other, Randall being forced to stay behind with _none_ of his bonds, Ironhide having to drag Jazz away from him, cursing and struggling.

In fact, Randall was alone in the entire base, and he screamed to the sky once the whole combined army had left, and locked down his links to everyone save Starscream, leaving himself open and vulnerable to the broken Seeker's pain.

It took some time, but Randall suddenly noticed that Starscream was heading for the Ark in a streak of rage and grief, and it made the man/bot very nervous, as Starscream was well known for doing things he later regretted in his rages.

When the screaming jet landed in the entry way however, he leaned against the wall, body heaving as he sucked in great gulps of air to cool his overheating systems.

Randall let him calm before rushing out to meet him.

Starscream feel to his knees, and hugged Randall tightly to his chest, great tears pouring from his optics as he sobbed out a jumble of words to his human bond, all in Seeker though.

The Seeker realized his mistake and witched to English, and Randall caught what he was crying.

"I don't wanna do it! I don't wanna do it!" he was sobbing over and over again, and Randall struggled to calm him down to see just what it was he didn't want to do.

Randall thought his heart was going to stop when he saw what the evil warlord had done to his SIC: he had force bonded with the pretty jet, and this one was done right: Megatron was in no way affected by it, but Starscream was bound tightly to his cruel master, and couldn't ever hope to get away now.

To make it worse, Megatron had drove a shard of Dark Energon right through Starscream's fragile and badly damaged spark, sending malicious tremors through the Seeker's whole system.

To top it off, there was just enough heat hormone left, that he had _impregnated_ the grieving Seeker, binding the jet as his and his only forever, as seekerlet sparklings meant everything to Seekers, and the poor SIC was now and utterly trapped in Megatron's clutches.

Starscream had flown away as soon as Megatron had pulled his claws out of him, as mating is horrifically painful for a Seeker, which was why it affected Randall so badly.

The seeker knew that he could kill his newspark by being far too active and emotionally messed up, so that's what he was trying to do, but his programming wasn't allowing him to kill the one thing that he wanted desperately to be free from.

Starscream didn't want the sparkling, nor did he want to kill it, no matter what he knew would be best, and he didn't want to destroy Earth, and he didn't want his life.

However, he was stuck with all of it, and Randall wanted to kill Megatron so badly just then that he failed to notice the warlord himself stalking the two of them until his shadow fell over them.

"So, Starscream, unhappy with finally achieving what you have always wanted? I tried to warn you but you refused to listen to me. Now I find you have a friend. And a human at that. I am disappointed in you, my Seeker." And Megatron threw his ugly head back and laughed.

"I-I, never wanted this! And I am not your Seeker!" Starscream howled.

Megatron stopped laughing and shoved his face into Starscream's, their foreheads touching.

Starscream squeaked in terror, but held still, tears dripping down his flushed cheeks as they poured from his wide optics.

"Really, Starscream? You're not mine? Really?" the evil mech reached a hand out and rested it on Starscream's heaving chest. "You are _mine_ , Starscream and the sparkling within is testament to this." He smiled cruelly at the weeping jet.

Randall knew he had to do something, and while the hulking gray menace was staring into Starscream's optics, he pried up a panel on Starscream's interface assembly, took a deep breath, and entered.

He felt Starscream convulse with pain as he determinedly crawled through the damaged passages that Megatron had abused so viciously, lubricant and energon making it slick ad difficult, especially with Starscream thrashing around in agony.

Why?

Starscream's miserable wail cut Randall's spark like a knife.

 _I shall make you better._ He sent to the Seeker, who was now being shook like a rag doll by his tormenter.

Megatron then threw the howling Seeker over his lap and ripped open the interface panels, shoving his clawed servo into his valve, Starscream going ridged and screaming so loud and high, Randall couldn't even hear it with his Autobot hearing, but it shattered the circuits in his head, nearly throwing him into unconsciousness.

The filthy claws scraped and tore at the tender internals of the agonized jet, trying to rip Randall out of there.

The human part of Randal took over and he kept climbing the channel towards the newspark and the Dark Energon.

Megatron soon gave up trying to snatch Randall from inside Starscream, and instead grabbed the Seeker by the neck, and tried to shake the man out.

Starscream had nearly went into shutdown from pain by this time, and Randall felt sick as he dug his own claws into the velvety walls smeared with energon, puncturing through and making more of the Cybertronian blood flow down his arm.

Slowly, painfully, he climbed, then Megatron's temper snapped, and he gave the jet a harsh slap across the rear, unknowingly helping Randall as the force of the blow jolted Starscream forward and then down as Megatron threw him across his knees again with another heavy smack to his bleeding rear.

Starscream's convulsing body almost blocked Randall's freefall down the bloody passage, but he still slipped through.

Then he had an awful realization as he suddenly felt Starscream moved again.

Megatron was going to stick his spike up into Starscream and extend the sparking tube to try and capture Randall in it.

Randall scrambled faster, almost to the chest cavity where he could see the black glow from the Dark Energon just ahead.

Pain clusters were sparking all around him as he raced to reach the newspark and the Dark Energon even as Megatron's sparking tube forced its way towards him.

Finally, he made it, the tiny spark fluttering next to Starscream's almost destroyed spark, and Randall felt horrible for what he was about to do, but he did it anyway.

With an awful crunch, he crushed the newspark in his claws, and he felt Starscream convulse again.

Then he yanked the Dark Energon from the barely beating spark and threw it straight up, piercing the thin armor in Starscream' s chest.

That confused Randall; Starscream should not have that thin of armor.

Just then black claws pieced the armor above him and snatched him for beside the nearly shattered spark, jerking him back out into the fresh air.

Randall spotted the Dark Energon and fired on it, exploding it even as Megatron howled at him to stop.

Starscream lay on the ground in a heap, just conscience enough to blink thankfully at his friend.

Megatron screamed and with a sickening crunch, crushed Randall in his mighty fist, the bot/Seeker not even having enough time to scream.

Then he dropped the nearly lifeless human to the ground beside the Seeker and aimed his canon at the two of them.

Just then Optimus and the rest of the combined armies landed right behind him, those bonded to Randall rushing forward in an agony and kneeling next to him.

"MEGATRON!" Prime screamed.

"Not me, Starscream." Megatron purred, and Ratchet confirmed that it was the Seeker's blood on Randall's body.

Prime turned his gun on Starscream, but Skywarp leapt in the way, warping the almost dead Seeker away from danger.

Megatron placed a hand on Optimus's shoulder, and squeezed it gently.

A weeping Optimus fell into his enemy's arms and bawled there for a few moments until he realized what he was doing and drew away, faceplates blooming red.

Megatron turned and flew away, his 'cons following him save Soundwave, until Megatron called him.

Soundwave looked at Randall a klik longer, then turned and followed his leader.

As the grieving Autobots knelt next to Randal, who was clearly dying, who should be warped back but Starscream himself.

Weakly, the jet tried to jab something into the man's body, but a blast from Prime's gun sent him hurtling backwards, crumpling against a boulder.

The last thing Starscream spoke before being warped back was, "I promise!" though no bot knew what that was about, Randall smiled with he heard it.

Then he looked up at his best best friend, Optimus Prime himself. " Always work together with humans from now on." He pleaded, and Prime tearfully promised.

"I'll miss you." The other Autobots coursed together, and Randall died.

Mirage and Wheeljack took the body away, telling no one where it was.

The whole base spent the next week mourning the lose of their companions.

And it was in that week that Smokescreen was born.


End file.
